


The Queen of Spades

by Secchar



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Psychological Warfare, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:23:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secchar/pseuds/Secchar
Summary: Sehun's not really sure what he's getting into, but he's sure he wants to win





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to lie. It's a similar idea to Storybook Prince in that it's psychological warfare, but it's slightly different. I hope.
> 
> The idea for a card-ranking social system comes from the BL manga Caste Heaven by Ogawa Chise, but the actual plot is mine.
> 
> I won't promise weekly updates since I don't think it's possible with my current schedule.

Sehun’s not even surprised when trash falls out of his locker. He’s been here less than 3 hours and so far, he’s been spitballed, tripped, and found razors in his desk. Why shouldn’t there be trash in his locker? Why be nice to the fucking new kid? His dad told him that this school was different, but Sehun had at least thought they would give the transfer kid a grace period.

He can’t even be bothered to feel upset about it. He knows it’s going to happen again, so he just paws the rest of the trash out of the locker and starts loading it up with his newly acquired textbooks. 

“It’s rather odd that they let a student transfer in. We pride ourselves so dearly on being elite, and yet here you are, the first transfer student in over fifty years.” The voice is warm and coy. Sehun closes his locker a bit to see who’s speaking to him. A soft-heart shaped smile catches his attention first followed by calculating brown eyes, and carefully swept-up hair. Sehun’s not one to be fooled. This is a very dangerous boy.

Sehun’s eyes flit down. Decked in the same blue blazer, tie and khakis as Sehun, his eyes alight on one key difference. In the breast pocket, opposite the school’s crest, is a playing card. A black ace of spades is pinned high up in the breast pocket so that it can be more prominently displayed. A quick glance over the rest of the students milling around in the hallway shows that most have their cards shoved as deep down in their pockets as it can go. They don’t show near the same pride as the boy in front of him does. Again, Sehun recalls what his dad told him this morning.

“Dad’s an alum of the school and pulled a few strings to get me in,” Sehun replies simply, going back to transferring his textbooks to his locker. There’s an ace of clubs scratched into the maroon paint on the inside of the door. Poor kid. 

The boy nods like he knew all along. He watches Sehun unload his backpack for a few seconds. “I’m Kyungsoo.”

“Sehun.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes positively glitter at Sehun’s shortness. He smiles lazily. “How much do you know, Sehun?”

Involuntarily, Sehun’s eyes drop back to the card in Kyungsoo’s pocket. The plastic coating on the card gleams in the overly bright lighting. Sehun looks back up at Kyungsoo. “I know the cards determine the hierarchy of the school. I know that your card means you’re the bottom of the barrel.”

Kyungsoo rubs a finger over the corner of his card. “If only the cards did just that.” Silence again. “Come with me.” Kyungsoo takes off at a brisk pace down the hall. The students part around him like the red sea.

Sehun doesn’t want to follow, but he remembers the last thing his dad said to him. With a small sigh, he shuts his locker and follows after Kyungsoo, dodging around other students to try and catch up with the smaller boy. At the last second, he sees someone stick a foot out, but it’s too late. He hits the floor hard. Laughter erupts around him. Sehun groans at the sharp pain in his hands.

Black sneakers move to stand in his line of vision.  Sehun looks up. It’s Kyungsoo.

“You made a mistake. As long as you don’t have a card,” Kyungsoo grinds a heel into Sehun’s hand until he gasps in pain, “you’re the lowest of the low.” He walks off.

Sehun groans again. The kids around him are still laughing, maybe even laughing harder, as he pushes himself up off the floor. A cursory once-over lets him know there’s no lasting harm. There’ll be a bruise from where Kyungsoo tried to crush his hand, but Sehun knows that’s nothing compared to what will happen if he doesn’t follow Kyungsoo. He gets up and starts walking.

Sehun goes through three different corridors, each time just barely catching Kyungsoo rounding a corner before he finally disappears into a room.

It’s a classroom, most likely unused since there’s nothing on the walls or dry-erase board. Kyungsoo’s sitting on the teacher’s desk, leaning back with his right ankle on his left knee. Next to him is a tall, gangly student with Dumbo ears, who’s spread wide because of necessity. A red joker peaks out over the top of his pocket.

“Sehun, this is Chanyeol. Chanyeol, Sehun,” Kyungsoo introduces them simply.

Sehun nods in Chanyeol’s direction. Chanyeol nods back, no words spared. Sehun glances around the room again at all the empty desks and bare walls. He’s sure no one would hear him if Chanyeol and Kyungsoo decided to beat him up. He’s sure no one would care.

Sehun bites the inside of his cheek. He'll have to make them care, but he needs to know how things work. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol must have the same idea. There’s no other reason for why they would drag him here. Kyungsoo was too quick to find him. They were waiting for him.

 “Explain the game.”

Chanyeol gets up from the desk and goes to the dry-erase board. He draws the four suits.

“Every student gets a card. Every grade gets a suit. Freshmen are clubs, sophomores are diamonds, juniors are hearts and seniors are spades. Each grade has its own court but the upper grade courts have more popularity than the lower grade courts.  There’s only three court cards. It’s your standard King, Queen, and Jack. Then there are two Jokers, four Aces and then whatever ranks 2 through 10 are needed to cover the rest of the grade. Aces are the losers of the school and serve as the punching bag. Then, of course, as you go up in rank, you’re allowed to bully those who are lower. The only card exempt from the ranking itself is the joker, which is what makes them unofficial members of the court. And that’s how the ranking works. Any questions?” 

“How are the cards assigned?” 

Chanyeol leans back against the board and looks at Kyungsoo. Sehun copies the motion.

Kyungsoo unfolds his body and leans forward. “At the beginning of each year, the Card Committee hosts the game. They hide the cards around the school. The students have 1 hour to find a card, which will determine the social rank for the rest of the year. If the student fails to find a card, they’ll be cardless and even lower than the ace. Very few cardless last the whole school year.”

Sehun wrinkles his nose. It doesn’t seem fair that he’ll be bullied (and maybe worse) just because he transferred and is thus cardless. “So I’ll just have to be cardless for the rest of the year?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “The committee informed us yesterday that the senior class will be playing the game again. It’s rare, but  not unheard of. You’ll have just as good a chance to find a card as the rest of us.”

Sehun sits down on the desk behind him and thinks. From what his dad told him, he knows that the game’s cutthroat. There’s no way your social rank is based on pure luck.

“How do you get a good card?”

Kyungsoo smiles approvingly. “It’s not luck; that’s for sure. Aside from a new Jack during sophomore year, we’ve had the same court for all four years. Kim Jongin is the King, Bae Joohyun is the Queen, and Kim Minseok is the Jack. The top 4 ranks have been the same and its mostly ranks 6 and down that will change, if they change.

“Our jokers have never changed. It’s always been Chanyeol and Park Chaeyoung. The court and the upper rank have their minions find their card and give it to them in exchange for protection and benefits. Even though in the game all of us are cardless, we aren’t equal.”

“How do you get a good card?” Sehun repeats. Kyungsoo’s just giving him backstory. He needs an answer.

“Getting impatient will get you nowhere,” Kyungsoo chastises. “If you want to win, you have to be patient. This game isn’t fair. Most kids at this school will give up being in the court or being in a top rank if it means they have an easier school year. That makes them susceptible and dangerous. There aren’t any rules for the game itself. You will get hurt by any number of people if you procure a valuable card. To avoid that, you’ll have to align yourself with someone.”

“And I’ll align myself with you?” The moment Sehun asks the question, he knows that it doesn’t make sense. Kyungsoo’s the bottom of the barrel. Sehun gains nothing by siding with him. Does he align himself with Chanyeol? Can he gain anything by aligning himself with a joker?

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Chanyeol and I have no intention of changing our ranks, and you’re not going to align yourself with anyone. You’re going to become your own faction. You’re going to become the Queen.”

Sehun breathes out heavily. That's a hefty promise if Kyungsoo is to be believed about the dangerousness of the game, but as he takes in the smug excitement of Kyungsoo's eyes, his dad's last words spring to mind.

_The one who holds the King of Spades is never the King._

 


	2. Chapter 1

It’s only by pure luck that someone trips and falls heavily. Sehun ducks behind a column and waits for them to run by. He doesn’t have a good card. He found a 6 of spades, but no one will beat him up for that. They’ll rough him up a bit to make sure he’s not hiding a better card, and that will take up time that Sehun cannot afford to waste. It’s already been half an hour, and he still hasn’t found the Queen card.

 

“We’ve searched half the school and we still haven’t found a 10.” Sehun peeks out a bit to see who’s talking. It’s that dick from his ethics class, who had a 6 card. He’s limping.

 

“As long as we keep making sure other people don’t have the 10, we’re fine.”

 

“If that kid hadn’t transferred in, we wouldn’t be doing this for the second time in a month. If I see him, I’ll beat him up. No one’s going to care.”

 

It seems there’s little reason needed to beat Sehun up. He pushes himself further behind the column until the guy and his friend are gone. When the coast is clear, he slinks out and starts making his way to the courtyard. It’s the only place he hasn’t been, even though he suspects that most of the cards have been found.

 

His phone vibrates.

 

**From: Park Chanyeol**

_Don’t come to the courtyard. It’s been raided. Try to find Kyungsoo. He has to hand the card off to you before the hour’s up otherwise he’s the Queen._

 

Sehun pockets his phone. Try to find Kyungsoo? Where he’s supposed to find him? He doesn’t know the layout of the school nor Kyungsoo well enough to find him. The best he can do is walk around and hope he stumbles across him. But how’s he even sure that Kyungsoo has the Queen card?

 

**To: Do Kyungsoo**

_Where are you? Do you have the card?_

 

Sehun loiters for a few seconds, waiting for Kyungsoo to reply, but laughter down the corridor tells him it’s a terrible idea to stay in one place for more than a couple of minutes. Too many kids are willing to beat him up for no reason at all.

 

It seems like a safe bet to wander down the freshman corridor, or the 100, as the guide had called it. Every underclassmen and faculty member had left as soon as school ended, so that the Committee could run the game. It’s also the first floor, the first place to be raided for cards.

 

It’s silent. Sehun proceeds with caution. He had been the unfortunate witness to an ambush of a student on the 2ndfloor. It had been an obvious attack between two different factions, but Sehun doesn’t know this game well enough to draw any strong conclusions. Given that one kid was willing to punch him just for being the transfer, he really shouldn’t take any chances. Just to be sure that he’s safe, before every doorway, he ducks underneath the window and just barely raises his head to look into the classroom.

 

Most of them are empty, dark rooms undisturbed by students. The Committee had been frightfully clear on what would happen if the school wasn’t in pristine condition after the game was over. They are an elite school after all.

 

Halfway down the corridor, in one of the freshman lab rooms, he finds an interesting sight. Sitting on one of lab tables is a tan boy with his back to him and his head thrown back, eyes closed and jaw slack. In between his legs is a bobbing head.

 

Sehun ducks down and sneaks away. Sexual favors as a sort of currency for a good card shouldn’t surprise him. It makes sense, but to witness it during the game itself when there’s so little time seems irresponsible.  But anyone who has that kind of time probably has no fear of finding a good card. That guy probably has a 10 card or higher.

 

The 100 is clear. No Kyungsoo. The next place is the gym, the only other place on the first floor that’s in bounds within the game. He had seen it in the initial tour he received, so in theory he should know where it is, but this school is poorly laid out. It looks nice from the outside, but the inside is a mess.

 

Sehun takes the first left he comes across. He’s vaguely sure the gym is to his left. Administration is to his right, he thinks. Regardless of where it is, Sehun’s really just killing time until Kyungsoo texts him, and it should be soon. Sehun checks his watch. 17 minutes until the game is over.

 

Should he actively try to find the gym or should he just roam around until Kyungsoo finds him? If he thinks about it, there is absolutely no reason that Kyungsoo would be in the gym over any other place. He has an equally good chance of finding Kyungsoo in the pottery studio, which is somewhere Sehun would actually like to see. He might as well try to find it now.

 

During the tour, the guide had said that all of the fine arts, aside from the auditorium, were located on the 3rdfloor. The stairs curl up the center of the school and Sehun’s almost tempted to crawl up them so no one will see him over the bannister, but that feels like it’s too much. Sehun wants to project some sense of pride to the student body.

 

The stairs and 3rdfloor are absolutely deserted. Sehun checks his watch again. 10 minutes left. Most of them have probably made their way to the auditorium. It’s the only safe place that’s within bounds. Cards can’t be stolen when you’re in the auditorium.

 

Sehun checks his phone again just to be safe. Still no text from Kyungsoo. He’s starting to get nervous. The Card Committee was very clear about the time limit. No cards can be obtained after the hour is up. Well, hour’s almost up, and here Sehun is. Queenless.

 

His phone vibrates.

 

**From: Do Kyungsoo**

_I’ve got the card. Where are you?_

 

**To: Do Kyungsoo**

_3 rdfloor, close to the pottery studio. Should I come to you?_

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t reply instantly, so Sehun decides to stay somewhat put. The pottery studio’s probably close enough to the stairs that he thinks he’ll hear anyone coming up them.

 

Luckily, all of the art rooms have plaques above the door placed perpendicularly to the wall, so Sehun doesn’t have to go peeping in every window looking for the pottery studio. He’s seen enough sex for one day.

 

The pottery studio is the fourth door down and well within view of the stairs. Sehun’s safe to take a quick look in. He twists the doorknob gently and is pleased to find it’s unlocked. He simultaneously opens the door and steps in, only to be pushed back onto the floor.

 

Sehun sits there dazed. What just happened? He tried to go into the pottery studio and now he’s on the floor.

 

“Are you fucking stupid? The pottery studio’s out of bounds. If you had gone in, you would have been disqualified. Do you know what that means? You would be cardless,” an angry voice hisses.

 

Sehun looks up. A short, angry-looking guy glares down at him. Sehun doesn’t know why the angry guy’s so mad at him. Why does he care if Sehun gets disqualified? From what he’s seen, it would be beneficial for the angry guy if Sehun was disqualified.

 

“I’m new.”

 

“Yeah, I know that, jackass. You’re the reason we’re playing the game again. Second time in 30 days. I’m well aware of the fact.”

 

Sehun’s not a coward by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s starting to sound like he’s about to get beat up. He sees the way angry guy’s shirt stretches across his chest. Those muscles aren’t for show.

 

“I’m sorry?” Against his will, it comes out like a question. But in all fairness, Sehun has no idea what he’s apologizing for. He had no control over being transferred in a month late.

 

Angry guy huffs and Sehun watches him clench his fist. Here it comes. He closes his eyes, but the hit never comes. He squints. Angry guy is gone. He looks around, but the coast is clear. Angry guy really is gone. How did he get away so quietly? This is a hardwood floor.

 

“Sehun?”

 

Sehun whips around. There’s Kyungsoo on the top stair looking at him, confused. How did Sehun not hear him? 

 

“How are you so quiet?”

 

Kyungsoo holds up a foot. His black sneaker is swaddled in t-shirts and rubber bands. Sehun wrinkles his nose. Why is this becoming more and more like a horror movie?

 

“We need to head back. 3 minutes until the game is over.” Kyungsoo flashes 2 cards. “Got our cards. Let’s go.”

 

Sehun looks around one more time, just in case angry guy is lurking around, before getting up and following Kyungsoo down the stairs. He steps sound painfully loud in comparison to the smaller boy. He really is lucky that he didn’t get caught. Angry guy probably also had his feet swaddled.

 

“Are shirts tied around the feet a big part of the game?”

 

Kyungsoo shrugs as he runs a hand through his hair. His hair’s a lot messier than when Sehun last saw him. He must have had a hard time obtaining the card. It can’t be easy to get the Queen card. Now that Sehun’s thinking about it, he’s about to cause a real upset. This class hasn’t had a new Queen in all four years. They’re going to know something’s up.

 

“So you have the Queen card.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Which means that the old Queen is no longer the Queen.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What will happen to her?”

 

Kyungsoo looks back at him. Sehun blushes, but Kyungsoo just smiles and continues. “Joohyun got a 10 card. She’ll be fine. She gets more leeway to do what she wants as a 10 than she did as a Queen.”

 

“Do I not have leeway?” Is Sehun dooming himself to the life of a pawn? There’s worse ways to spend his senior year in a fucked-up school like this, but still it’s not ideal. He has a pretty bad flaw of being terrible at everything if people are watching.

 

“I phrased that badly. The court can do whatever they want and it will be regarded a cool, but they’re heavily watched at all times by the student body. So they set the status quo, but there’s a caveat that they can’t go against the school hierarchy.  Being a 10 means you have popularity, but you’re not watched. You also have to fit the cool stereotype to a T as set by the court. They both have their bad sides, but being a 10 is definitely the lesser of two evils.”

 

Sehun considers it, and thinks that the short answer is yes, sticking in the status quo is better than setting it. The long answer needs to be considered more thoroughly.

 

On the first floor, Kyungsoo takes a right instead of a left, making them go through the administration hall instead of the 100. Sehun frowns. “Can we get to the auditorium this way?”

 

Kyungsoo nods. “It’s a bit out of the way, but—,” he cuts himself off mid-sentence to whirl around and slam the Queen card into Sehun’s hand. As he takes his own hand back, the intercom crackles to life.

 

“Attention senior class, the game is over. Please report to the auditorium with your card. I repeat, the game is over. Please report to the auditorium with your card.”

 

Kyungsoo smiles lazily when the announcement ends. “Would you look at that? You’re the new Queen.”

 

Sehun just blinks. It feels too easy. Just like that he’s one of the top dogs of the school. It hasn’t even been one day yet. That’s insane. He cradles his card.

 

“Come on, the fun part hasn’t even happened yet. Let’s get to the auditorium.” Kyungsoo grabs Sehun’s elbow and starts pulling him down the hall at a faster clip.

 

Sehun allows himself to be pulled down the hall. “What’s the fun part?”

 

“The Card Committee announces out who has what card. It’s going to be so dramatic when they figure out that Joohyun doesn’t have the Queen card. I can’t wait to witness it.”

 

“That’s kind of petty of you, isn’t it?”

 

“You have to make fun where you can, Sehun, especially with this kind of fucked-up game that we have to play.” For the first time since they’ve met, which is a grand total of 6 hours, Kyungsoo sounds slightly bitter. Sehun doesn’t push the issue. Kyungsoo’s been involved in the game all four years, probably all as an ace too, so he has every right to sound bitter. There are other things he can talk about. Like angry guy for instance.

 

“Before you found me, I was trying to get into the pottery studio, but before I could, this small, angry guy pushed me down and yelled at me.”

 

When Kyungsoo looks back at him, Sehun realizes that he wasn’t descriptive enough. Kyungsoo could also easily be described as a small, angry guy. He tries to add on, “black hair and brown eyes.”

 

Kyungsoo’s actively frowning, “You have just described at least half of our school.”

 

Sehun tries to think of another descriptor, but the only word that comes to mind is “hot” and he doesn’t want to say that aloud. It’s also just a terrible descriptor that helps no one.

 

“Never mind.”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t look satisfied with dropping it. “Point him out to me when we get into the auditorium.”

 

 

 

The auditorium is huge and it smells new. Sehun balks when he sees that the seats are real leather. He trundles after Kyungsoo, who’s clearing a path to Chanyeol in the front rows. They both slip into the seats and crowd their heads together.

 

“Did you get the cards?” Chanyeol asks.

 

Kyungsoo nods and taps his pocket where he’s placed his card.  “Did you?”

 

Chanyeol taps his pants pocket. “Does anyone know about Sehun?”

 

“I don’t think so. No one ever expects that the court is going to change. Why? Did you hear something?”

 

Chanyeol glances back warily. Sehun tries to see who he looks at, but there’s too many people. “No, it’s just Siwon tried to take a 10 card, so I thought people might have heard about Sehun and tried their own kind of revolt.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen and he ducks his head to hide his surprise. “Siwon tried to take a 10?”

 

“He’s in the back towards the left.” Sehun and Kyungsoo both look back to see. Initially, Sehun didn’t know why he was looking; he doesn’t know who any of these people are. But it’s very easy to pick out Siwon. He’s a mess. Both of his eyes are swollen shut, his nose is obviously broken, and his lips are split in multiple places. A thin line of blood trickles down from his hairline. Sehun gasps.

 

“Baekhyun took care of him personally, and had a minion follow Siwon around to make sure he didn’t get a card.”

 

Sehun gulps. He knew this was dangerous, but he hadn’t really known. This is the awakening he needed. One false step and he could end up like Siwon. And that was just a 10 card.

 

“Whose 10 card did Joohyun take?”

 

“Yoseob’s, but I gave him a 9, so he was fine. The person who had the 9 before him was a fluke, so he didn’t have any minions. They’re safe.”

 

Sehun turns around front and sinks down into his seat. He just realized a lot at once. He needs to decompress. Kyungsoo nudges him. “Show me your angry man.”

 

“Angry man?” Chanyeol asks. Sehun turns around reluctantly and scans the crowd. Kyungsoo’s right. He did describe half the school.

 

“Yeah, Sehun tried to enter the pottery studio and was stopped by a, and I quote, ‘short, angry man’.”

 

“Pottery studio’s out of bounds. Sehun could have been disqualified. Sounds like short, angry guy was protecting him, which is interesting.”

 

“There!” Sehun whisper-shouts, discretely pointing to the center of the auditorium. There he is. Angry, short guy is sitting with his back straight, hands tightly clasped, and head bowed. The definition of tensed, but Sehun will admit, it really highlights that jawline.

 

Sehun hears Kyungsoo hiss from beside him. “Kim Minseok, the Jack. He’s got a strong sense of morals, which is surprising given where he is and what he’s doing.”

 

Kim Minseok, the Jack. Sehun will be spending a lot of time with him from now on. That’s nice. Sehun always appreciates hot men. He lets his eyes wander over the entire row, but he doesn’t get very far. Sitting right next to Kim Minseok is the tan boy he saw getting blown in the lab room.

 

“Are sexual favors common?” The phrasing of the question’s awkward, but it’s better than Sehun asking how many of the students prostitute themselves for cards.

 

“It depends, but yeah. Some kids will offer it in exchange for protection. Why? You want Minseok to fuck you? I should warn you that the Jack serves as the King’s personal slave. Jongin probably won’t like you coming on to his property.”

 

Sehun frowns. That’s kind of gross. The Jack’s essentially a sex slave.  This place just gets more and more fucked-up with every minute.

 

“Who’s the King?”

 

“Kim Jongin,” Kyungsoo replies. “He’s tall and tan, looks really bored all the time. He’s sitting next to Minseok.”

 

Sehun’s eyes widen. The guy getting blown in the lab is the King? Does that mean it was Minseok blowing him? He thinks back on it. He can’t remember too much about the bobbing head, but he doesn’t think it had the same hairstyle. Minseok’s hair is slightly wavy. The bobbing head had straight hair. He thinks. He should ask.

 

“I saw Jongin get blown in the lab room. Was that Minseok?”

 

“You did?” Chanyeol’s voice is very sharp. “Jongin’s not big into sexual favors as a currency not even with the Jack. Minseok usually just does his errands.”

 

“People change, and if Jongin’s stupid enough to give something away in exchange for sex, it’s his own fucking fault.”

 

Sehun thinks he agrees with Kyungsoo’s point, but something bothers him about it. It’s a little nihilistic in some sense, but Sehun’s not quite sure how to think about it to get to an answer he’s happy with.

 

Kyungsoo taps him on the shoulder. “Pay attention Joohyun’s row is about to go up and submit their cards.”

 

Sehun dutifully looks up at the stage, which he had been trying to ignore. On stage is the Card Committee. Four people wearing blank, white masks and black gloves. They’re students. Well, they’re wearing uniforms. They might not be students. There’s no distinguishing features whatsoever. Eventually he should ask Kyungsoo or Chanyeol about the Card Committee in greater detail. But right now, he has to settle for being creeped out by them as they mark down and announce what everyone’s card is.

 

“Kim Jongin, King!” One of the Committee members calls out. The voice is robotic. Apparently the masks are equipped with voice changers.

 

The crowd roars with approval. Even Kyungsoo and Chanyeol jump to their feet to cheer, pulling Sehun up with them. “Cheer, idiot. Otherwise you put a target on your back,” Kyungsoo whispers into his ear before going back to screaming. Sehun starts clapping, but falters when he sees Jongin glaring at him.

 

Jongin’s glare doesn’t escape Chanyeol or Kyungsoo. “Does Jongin know?”

 

“Yeah, Joohyun was sitting next to him. No doubt she told him.”

 

Chanyeol spares a glance at Sehun. “You better be careful, Sehun. You might be the Queen, but Jongin’s the King. And it looks like he’s not happy about it.”

 

Not happy about it is an understatement. Jongin looks downright murderous as he goes to sit down on the stage next to Chaeyoung. What the fuck? Sehun hasn’t even done anything yet. _Well_ , Sehun thinks, _that’s kind of a lie_. He hasn’t done anything directly. Technically, it’s all been Kyungsoo.

 

“Joohyun’s up now.” Kyungsoo sounds breathless from excitement. Sehun, on the other hand, sinks further into his seat because now it’s not just Jongin glaring at him. Minseok is too. Great. Both of the people he’s supposed to be friends with hate him.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Sehun whines.

 

Kyungsoo shushes him, eyes still firmly on Joohyun as she hands over her card to the committee member. Sehun has to admire her steely resolve. There’s no indication on her face that she is anything less than perfect.

 

“Bae Joohyun, 10.”

 

The crowd cheers until it sinks in that Bae Joohyun is not their Queen, but a 10. The cheer dies off slowly until the auditorium is dead silent as Joohyun walks across the stage, heels clacking loudly against the floor. Sehun sees Kyungsoo put his hands in front of his mouth to hide his gleeful smile.

 

“Kim Minseok, Jack.”

 

Automatically, the crowd starts cheering again. It’s less loud than it should be, but right now everyone’s on pilot mode. They don’t know what to think, and a tension forms each time a name is called. Sehun can feel everyone lean forward in their seat.

 

Finally, it’s Sehun’s turn to stand up and wait in line. His stomach’s in knots. Jongin’s stopped glaring at him, but Minseok still is. Except he’s one of many right now, the rest of the auditorium is watching him right now. They’re the last row. One of them is the Queen.

 

Chanyeol submits his card first, completely relaxed. When his name is shouted as a Joker, the auditorium claps, and Chanyeol goes to sit down with the rest of the court. There’s one empty seat left between Jongin and Chanyeol, and it’s for Sehun, the currently unknown future Queen.

 

Kyungsoo’s next. When the other three aces had been called, they had been laughed at. When Kyungsoo’s name is called, there’s dead silence. Sehun doesn’t even have enough of an attention span to vaguely consider why that’s weird. He’s panicking. His heart is in his throat. In seconds, everything’s going to change.

 

Sehun walks up slowly, face carefully arranged to be neutral. The Committee member holds out their hand for the card. Sehun’s relieved that his hand doesn’t shake when he hands over his card. The seconds that pass from when Sehun hands it over to when the Committee member reads it out take forever until finally it happens.

 

“Oh Sehun, Queen.”

 

There’s silence, and then Kyungsoo starts clapping and whooping. Slowly the rest of the student body joins in until it fills the entire auditorium. Trying to hide his shock, Sehun slowly makes his way over to where the rest of the court is sitting.

 

Chanyeol smiles up at him when he sits down. He’s the only one to do so. The other three don’t even look at him.

 

The Committee member mechanically sweeps his hand in Sehun’s direction. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, your Court.”


	3. Chapter 2

“The first thing you need to do is change my name in your phone,” Kyungsoo says completely out of the blue as they lie on couch in Sehun’s living room. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had called a “strategy meeting” at his house, but with the way they keep looking around suggests that they just wanted to see where he lived. Chanyeol’s even gone so far as to vacate the living room and go snooping in his kitchen. Sehun hears him whistle in appreciation when he sees the double oven.

 

“Why?”

 

“If I want to text you during school, it can’t say my name. It’ll be too suspicious. A court member being friends with an ace goes against the hierarchy and thus breaks the rules. No, you’ll have to change it something else.”

 

Sehun fishes out his phone. Until he gets a better handle on the game, it’s better just to do as Kyungsoo says. “What do you want it to be?”

 

“Pick a contact who you don’t mind losing and just save my number under their contact.”

 

Sehun scrolls until he finds a kid he went to school with 6 years ago and has never once tried to contact, “I’ll save you under Na Wondeuk. Won’t it be a problem that I’m talking to kids from other schools?”

 

“It’s not a problem as long as you don’t tell anyone about the game,” Chanyeol replies coming out of the kitchen. “By the way that’s the nicest gas range I have ever seen in my life.”

 

“Thanks, Dad really likes to cook. Should I change your name as well?”

 

“Nah, it doesn’t matter for me. Since my position exists outside of the system, it’s fine if you have me. In fact, it’s expected that you’ll have the entire court’s number.”

 

“I’ll have everyone’s number?” Sehun grimaces. Given how Minseok and Jongin were glaring at him, it’s not the best news he’s received. He’s not sure how far the world has gotten in terms of technology, but it seems like Jongin and Minseok could do a lot of harm if they have his phone number. They could probably get their hands on his entire history from just his phone number.

 

“Yeah, including Minseok’s. You look scared. You should be happy. It’s so much easier to get into someone’s pants if you have their phone number.”

 

Sehun scowls and whacks Kyungsoo with one of his mom’s many throw pillows. “Stop that, I think a bigger concern is whether or not Minseok’s going to punch me in the face.”

 

“Minseok won’t punch you in the face. No matter how much the court dislikes each other personally, they have to present a united front. You’ll learn this tomorrow, but the court never goes anywhere by themselves in public. They eat together, walk together, have class together and then hang out together.”

 

“They have classes together? I don’t think I share any of my classes with them.” Sehun answers hesitantly. He’s not confident that’s right. He spent 6 of his 7 classes today picking out razor blades from his desk, so he wasn’t paying too much attention to his classmates other than to curse them under his breath.

 

“You’ll get a new schedule and be put with them.”

 

“The administration will give me an entire new schedule just because I’m Queen.” That sounds extremely doubtful. That’s a lot of effort for something that’s a game.

 

Chanyeol makes his way over to the bookcase closest to the front door where all of Sehun’s baby pictures are set up. Sehun wrinkles his nose. His mom hasn’t managed to unpack the dishes, but all of Sehun’s baby pictures are placed around the house waiting to be seen. Chanyeol bends to look at his 1stgrade picture. His reply is absent-minded.

 

“The Card System is more than a ranking system. It’s a well-known secret in the professional world. Companies scout out the students that were in the top ranks. The logic if you’re a top rank, it means you’re cutthroat, which is perfect for the world of professionals. Same for colleges even though they like to pretend they don’t take it into consideration. As a result of the demand for the high ranks, the court especially, the school makes sure to put them into better classes. So starting tomorrow, you’ll be taking the hardest classes with rank 8s and above only. Lucky you.” Chanyeol has the audacity to wink at Sehun at the end of his little speech.

 

Kyungsoo must see the horror on Sehun’s face. “I told you there’s downsides to being in the court, but it’s just for a year and then you’re set to go to a really nice college. It’s just a year, Sehun.”

 

Kyungsoo’s missed the mark on what’s really bothering Sehun, but even Sehun’s not sure what it is exactly that’s bothering him. He focuses on his mother’s copy of _Vogue_ on the coffee table as he tries to think through his discomfort. With the greatest hesitation, he says, “You implied I’d have a lot more freedom if I were Queen.”

 

“I implied no such thing. If anything I implied that you would have more power. There’s no such thing as freedom when you exist within the system.“

 

“Doesn’t having power imply freedom?” As soon as Sehun’s said it, he knows that he’s asked a loaded question. His mother, a philosophy professor at the local community, would be ecstatic to hear her son asking something like this, and now that he thinks about it, she’s probably lectured him on a similar topic. Kyungsoo, though, does not share the same love for philosophy as his mother.

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I’m not here to have philosophical discussions with you, Sehun. I’m here to give advice. I know we were joking about Minseok to tease you, but it’s actually a good idea. Minseok’s got a pretty strong faction, which is something you don’t currently have. If you’re linked with Minseok, you’ll get your own followers.”

 

“With that line of reasoning, shouldn’t I try to go after Jongin?”

 

Kyungsoo begins to speak, but cuts himself off when he’s fully processed the idea. He turns to Chanyeol, his expression clearly indicating that Sehun’s idea is a good one. Chanyeol looks at him like he’s crazy and shakes his head.

 

“You know Jongin won’t go for that. He’s a traditionalist. He’ll only do anything with a Jack, and even then if it’s only by the old rules.”

 

“Old rules?”

 

“Game gets modernized every five years or so. Last rule change was two years ago, but Jongin follows the rules I think that his father played by. It’s not a big deal since he’s not violating any current rules, but Chanyeol’s right. He’s not going to fuck you.”

 

Maybe it’s because the word ‘fuck’ has been thrown around a lot, but Sehun suddenly feels dirty. They’re all essentially talking about how he’s going to whore himself out. It all leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. “Aren’t there other ways I can get followers without sex?”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow as he considers the question before eventually shaking his head. “No. The higher ranks are able to gain so many followers because they’re well known among the student body. We know what their strengths and weaknesses are. We know exactly what they can offer us. We don’t know that with you.”

 

“But I have the Queen card. Isn’t that all that matters?”

 

“It matters,” Chanyeol agrees, “but it’s not all that matters. There are 3 questions going on in everyone’s head right now. One, who is Oh Sehun, two, how did he get the Queen card, and three, who gave him the Queen card. The first question is only important insofar as it answers number two or three. Number three is the most important. It’s impossible for a kid who has been here less than one day to get the Queen card. You’ve got some connection, and that’s what’s most important. Once people find out who got you the card, they’ll decide whether or not to follow you. If we get them to think it’s Minseok, then you’re set.”

 

“I don’t really have a choice then. I’m guessing I can’t say that it was Kyungsoo, instead of Minseok, who got me the card?”

 

“Creates more questions than it answers. It has to be Minseok,” Chanyeol confirms.

 

“So my school life literally depends on whether or not I can fuck Minseok?”

 

Kyungsoo shrugs. “Pretty much.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sehun sighs heavily when he gets his new schedule. They’ve changed all of his classes. He knew they would, but it still sucks to think that everything about his school life will revolve around this one stupid playing card. He looks down at the card in his breast pocket. It’s so fucking flimsy.

 

“Sehun.” Jongin’s voice is short, clipped, and deep. It somewhat belies his sleepy expression, but it fits the image of someone who’s a king.

 

There’s an urge to just ignore Jongin and continue studying his new schedule. All of his classes now have an S in front of them, which, according to Chanyeol, means special. Logic wins out in the end though. It’d be incredibly stupid to get on the King’s bad side.

 

“Hello,” Sehun greets coolly.

 

“You didn’t come to the lounge this morning.”

 

“The lounge,” Sehun repeats dumbly. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo never said anything about a lounge.

 

Jongin huffs irritably. “The lounge is a personal study room for the court. We meet there every morning before school at 8.”

 

It’s 8:25. Classes start at 8:35, and Sehun likes to arrive only minutes before the final bell. He’s already early by his own standards. Why does he have to get here even earlier?

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I said so.”

 

Well, Jongin is the King and Sehun’s been instructed to just follow Jongin for now, so he nods. Looks like he’ll be getting up earlier now despite how appalling the idea is to him.

 

Jongin smirks and walks away. Sehun can’t help sticking his tongue out after him, which is how Jongin catches him when he looks back at Sehun. Sehun freezes. Jongin’s eyes obviously drop down to Sehun’s tongue before looking back up at Sehun.

 

“Come on, class is starting.”

 

Sehun follows after him without a word. He’s lucky Jongin didn’t say anything. He can’t afford to make Jongin hate him any more than he already does, even though it would be so easy to since Jongin is a major dick.

 

“So a transfer student who’s been here less than a day is somehow able to get the Queen card.” Jongin makes an effort to keep his tone light as if he’s commenting on the weather, but Sehun’s instantly on high alert. For some reason it didn’t occur to him from what Chanyeol said, that the people who would be asking questions would include the court. He really should have though. Of course the people he’s now obligated to hang out with are going to be curious as to how he got the highly coveted Queen card.

 

The best response is no response. Sehun had been told that under no circumstances could he mention Kyungsoo’s name or really anyone’s until he was undoubtedly connected to Minseok.

 

“It will probably be a bit of a culture shock. This school is so different from other schools, and we’ll help you since you’re one of us now. Just follow our lead and you’ll be fine.”

 

Sehun’s not sure if his ears are deceiving him or what, but Jongin almost sounds like he’s being helpful. “Thanks.”

 

“I’ll give you a word of advice though,” Jongin says coming to a stop in front of, what is presumably, their first period class. “Don’t talk to anyone outside of the court. It will make people question your capability.”

 

Jongin walks into the classroom leaving Sehun in the hallway by himself to understand what just happened. At its most basic level, it’s a threat, but a threat of what?  What could happen? Surely Kyungsoo or Chanyeol would have told him if he could be ousted.

 

“Move.”

 

Sehun would recognize that smooth voice anywhere. Minseok looks angry today as well, but Sehun’s not going to lie, it’s a good look on him. “Good morning, Minseok,” he greets cheerfully. Sehun’s current plan of action is to kill Minseok with kindness.

 

_“The game is really all about appearances, so you don’t have to actually fuck Minseok, but you definitely have to give the impression that you are. Become his friend and the gossip mill will do the rest.”_

Minseok grunts and shoulders Sehun out of the way. It feels a little unnecessary since Sehun’s technically not in front of the door, but he acknowledges that this is an uphill battle. He follows in after Minseok.

 

The room screams elite. There are laptops on every desk, which leaves little room for a regular old notebook and pencil. The point is probably that Sehun won’t need a notebook or pencil for notes, but he doesn’t retain anything unless he writes it by hand. This is what Sehun has always wanted: harder classes conducted in an environment that he’s not suited to.

 

“Chan, why are you next to Jongin? You can’t see if you sit that far from the board.”

 

The desks are coupled together, and Minseok’s occupying one of the desks in the front, center pod talking to Chanyeol who’s in the next row over and three pods back, sitting next to Jongin.

 

“I can see,” Chanyeol responds simply.

 

“You’re not wearing glasses, and you hate contacts.” The concern in Minseok’s voice for Chanyeol is what Sehun aspires to obtain from him.

 

Chanyeol shrugs lackadaisically, “I got Lasik.”

 

“You just decided to get Lasik. You’ve never talked about Lasik before.”

 

“Impulse decision.”

 

“You can’t just impulsively decide to get Lasik. It’s a process.”

 

“Jongin didn’t ask me nearly as many questions.”

 

Minseok’s lips thin. He’s obviously displeased with the way the conversation has gone, but he doesn’t push it. He turns back around, sees Sehun again, looks around at all of the occupied desks and sighs heavily. “Well take a seat, new kid.” 

 

“My name’s Sehun.” He slides into the seat and instantly hates how exposed he feels. Everybody can see him, but he can’t see them. And with how many people apparently hate him, he is not comfortable with this situation.

 

“We’ll see,” is Minseok’s reply before he completely ignores Sehun in favor of turning on his laptop. Sehun follow his example because he has no idea what to do with that response. They’ll see if his name is actually Sehun? Sehun’s had his name for 17 years, so he’s, at the very least, 87% sure it’s his name.

 

The computer opens to a login screen and Sehun has no idea if he even has a login. In his previous two schools, the administration had taken a minimum of three weeks getting him set up on the school server. But this is an elite school, so Sehun has no idea what the norm is.

 

“Do I have a login?”

 

Predictably, Minseok doesn’t answer, choosing instead to check his email.

 

“Yeah, fuck me,” Sehun mutters under his breath as he examines the login more closely for no reason. He still has no idea what his username or password is. It’s fine. Why would someone want to help him? He’s just the Queen after all.

 

His phone vibrates.

 

**From: Park Chanyeol**

_Username is your student email without the @_

_Password is ID number._

 

At least someone’s helping him here. United front, his ass.

 

The login takes him directly to his email. He already has twelve. That’s too many emails for two days. He clicks through them. Most are from his new teachers informing him of his assignments. The only interesting one is from the Card Committee. It’s the rules of the game. Sehun flags that one to read later.

 

Eventually it occurs to Sehun that maybe class should have started, but when he looks around there’s not a teacher in sight. None of the other students seem worried at all. If anything they seem oddly focused. Everyone’s fixated on their own screens.

 

“Minseok,” Sehun says before remembering that Minseok probably isn’t going to talk to him at all, but he continues on because it’s more embarrassing to only say Minseok’s name. “Where’s the teacher?”

 

Sehun doesn’t even wait for Minseok to not reply. He just starts clicking on random things. There’s a tab labeled ‘assignments’. That’s probably important. He clicks on it to find that he already has three economics assignments. Might as well start with one of those even though he’s terrible at econ.

 

The first assignment is a multiple-choice evaluation exam, so it doesn’t matter how Sehun does on it. With that in mind Sehun just randomly begins clicking answers. He gets into a rhythm with his clicking and starts to bob his head in time, still paying no attention to the actual answers he’s clicking on. It’s unsure what catches his attention, but Minseok turns to look at him and grows increasingly more angry as he takes in the sight.

 

“Are you fucking serious?” Minseok shoulders Sehun out of the way and takes over his laptop. He goes back to the first page and starts reading the quiz and picking, what Sehun presumes, are better answers. “You can’t be making us look bad. We’re the court. We have an image to uphold. You won’t make it unless you try.”

 

Sehun pushes himself as far back in his seat as possible, which doesn’t do much since Minseok’s torso is still pressed pretty firmly against Sehun’s chest. There are worse places to be, so Sehun lets it go. There are more pressing matters to attend to. Minseok’s been pretty much a dick since he first pushed Sehun down, but, right now, it sounds like Minseok is concerned. Whether it’s for Sehun or his own reputation as the Jack is unclear, but it doesn’t really matter which it is. The more important thing is that he’s found his way to get involved with Minseok.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 3

The lounge is extravagant, too extravagant. Sehun is a high school student who still needs his mom to remind him to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. A lounge with five big mahogany desks, three overstuffed couches and a big flat screen TV is wasted on him. He also resents that Jongin’s desk is in front of a huge window, while the rest of the desks flank the walls. He’s sure if they were to all sit down at them, they’d look like a CEO with his four secretaries. It’s what he’s always wanted.

Chanyeol dodges around Sehun and collapses on the longest couch. It wheezes under his weight and Sehun swears that he sees it buckle a bit. He can hear his mom wincing from all the way across town. That poor couch. A good couch can survive 30 years if no one collapses on it, on a regular basis. Sehun shakes his head. Rich kids.

“Your desk is the one to the left of Jongin’s,” Chaeyoung points to the only empty desk among the cluster. The others all have a collection of pens and paper and on one, a half-eaten pizza. This time Sehun can feel his dad cringe. His parents would be so ashamed to see him hanging out with these kind of people. Well, his mom would. His dad would understand. You’ve got to play the game no matter what it takes.

The desk is at least free from dust, Sehun thinks as he sets his bag down on top of it. He has bad allergies and there’s nothing more embarrassing than to have a sneeze attack in front of people who hate his guts.

“Chanyeol, I told you to throw away the pizza when you were done with it. It’s going to attract ants,” Minseok complains, setting his bag down with a heavy thump. Sehun’s pleased to note that the paper and pens Minseok has on his desk are neatly organized. A hot, muscular boy who’s clean? Minseok can take him right now.

“I’m going to eat it later.”

“The grease is completely congealed.”

“Put it in the microwave then,” Chanyeol replies easily. Not once has he looked at Minseok in this entire exchange, choosing to instead scroll through his social media. Sehun sees a text notification banner slide onto his screen, and then, Chanyeol gets up off of the couch. “I’ve been summoned.”

“No, wait, Chanyeol, we’ve got to get this contract into administration before the day’s over.”

Chanyeol shrugs, “No can do, Nini. His majesty doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“You have to sign off.”

“Jongin, he’s got a new ring,” Chaeyoung adds in.

“Yeah, Nini, do you want to see this precious face black and blue because I needed to sign a stupid form? Make the new kid do it.”

Sehun straightens up from organizing his school books on his desk. There’s so much to unpack in Chanyeol’s speech, but all he can focus on is, “What? I don’t know what your signature looks like.”

Chanyeol tsks and shrugs helplessly. “Sounds like a personal problem. I’m out.”

No one tries to stop Chanyeol this time, but Sehun wishes someone would. Chanyeol’s the only one he knows doesn’t hate him, and now he’s gone, leaving him in the lion’s den all by himself. He rearranges his books on his desk. Maybe they’ll leave him alone. Except there’s no one around. There’s no reason to be chummy right now. Sehun’s seen _Law and Order_. He knows that if you beat someone covered in a blanket, the bruises won’t show. 

“Sehun, come here,” Jongin sounds tired. The rest of the court are gathered around Jongin’s desk. Chaeyoung smiles pleasantly at him while Jongin and Minseok glare at him. They’ve glared at him so much, he’s starting to think it might just be their default expressions. He steps in between Minseok and Chaeyoung (closer to Chaeyoung than Minseok) and looks down at the paper on Jongin’s desk. It says “party contract” in big, bolded letters.

“It’s Casino Night in 2 weeks. Sehun, since you’re dumb, I’ll explain it to you.” That’s completely uncalled for. “The court acts as your basic student council but with more responsibility. We’re in charge of planning all the parties, and I mean that to the fullest extent. Administration doesn’t interfere in whatever we plan as long as we don’t do anything blatantly illegal.” Sehun just skims over the last phrase. He can’t afford to be dogged down in the details of ‘blatantly illegal’. “Casino night is the first big party of the year, and I mean big. Everyone dresses up, plays a few games. Depending on a student’s card, they’ll have more or less access to food, drinks, and games. Any questions?” 

“Is it mandatory?” Sehun knows he’s asking an odd question. It’s a party, but if the card system is in effect during a party, then he has to ask. 

“Students have to be functioning members of the community,” Chaeyoung answers vaguely.

 _Mandatory, then_ , Sehun thinks grimly. He’s had to have had this thought a million times already, but what a fucked up place. “So we just need to sign?”

Jongin nods. “Yeah, and then there’s some planning over the week, but we’ve already worked out the big details. Everything else can come later.”

“Great, where do I sign?” He's not really in a position to reject anything. He may be the Queen, but he's not really sure what that means. 

Jongin flips to the last page, where there are five blanks. Jongin signs first and then passes the pen around. Sehun signs last, making the ‘P’ in Park, big and swooping.

 

 

 

 

“Casino night, objectively the worst night of fall semester,” Kyungsoo muses as he snoops through one of Sehun’s dad cookbooks. Chanyeol is already mixing batter. Sehun has no idea why these two are cooking in his kitchen.

“Why don’t you cook at your own house?”

“Double oven,” Chanyeol answers.

“Gas cooktop,” Kyungsoo replies.

“Mom and Dad don’t like a mess.”

“We’ll clean up. We’re not heathens,” Chanyeol says just as a glob of brown batter splatters on the countertop.

“We’ll see. Now why didn’t you sign the party contract, Chanyeol? It was literally the only thing we did. The only other interesting thing that happened was that Chaeyoung ate a slice of your pizza.” 

“Did she? Gross. The grease was congealed. No, I got called in by my sponsor. Had to answer, you know? He’s the only reason why I’ve got my card.”

“Would he really have messed you up if you didn’t come?” Now in the safety of his own home, Sehun, lets himself consider the oddness of Chanyeol’s response. Specifically the teasing tone of Chanyeol’s voice juxtaposed with the darkness of his words.

Chanyeol hums as he considers the question, giving the batter one last mix with the spoon before starting to pour the batter in the loaf pan. “He would. Maybe not as hard as some of the other kids, but he would do it personally. He’s been my sponsor all four years, and maybe I’ve spoiled him by being so punctual and willing. But it’s too late now. If I don’t come, the little puppy gets angry.”

There’s no way to respond to that. There is no legitimate way to respond to that, so Sehun settles for scratching at a coffee ring on the island. Chanyeol continues,” I wouldn’t worry about that with you, though. You’re the sponsor in any scenario.”

That doesn’t make Sehun feel better at all. It makes him feel worse. It’s an abuse of power and he has power. He won’t do that to anyone. He doesn't see how he can do that to anyone.

“Breathe, Sehun. The game’s bad and you have to accept that. It’s the way things work though. You’ll get used to it. We have." Kyungsoo reaches across to pat Sehun's hand. It's a little awkward, but Sehun appreciates the gesture. Kyungsoo goes back to rifling through the cookbook, still talking. "But for now, just focus on one thing at a time. For instance, Casino night. It’s big. It’s a fundraiser for the community, which really means the court. Those couches didn’t just come from anywhere you know.”

“What?”

The incredulity in Sehun’s voice makes Kyungsoo turn towards him with furrowed eyebrows. “What do you mean what? You said Jongin told you about the party.”

“Well yeah, he did. Said it was a party with some gambling and different perks depending on your card.”

Kyungsoo’s past being surprised, he’s confused. Sehun can read it plain on his face. He’s chewing on the inside of cheek while he thinks. “It's more than that. All of the money the house wins at the end of the night goes to the court. And it's not different perks depending on the card. Ranks 3 and down are servants for the event with the cardless and aces having the most menial jobs of them all. We're the literal help. This party's not for us. It's for the higher ranks. Everything's for the higher ranks. Casino Night's the worst because I'm a slave all night. It's not fun for the lower ranks. What is Jongin doing?”

Sehun can't help the wave of disgust that washes over him. That's terrible. That's not a party. Half of their class is serving the other half. Why wouldn't Jongin tell him that? 

“He’s being purposely evasive,” Chanyeol responds. There’s a similar look of confusion on his face. “There are serious consequences to not knowing the game. This party is part of the game. It’s an integral part of the game, and Jongin hasn’t told you why. That's got to be deliberate.”

“He’s undermining you,” Kyungsoo says. He’s angry. Sehun doesn’t know why, but Kyungsoo is furious. He slams a fist on the counter. “By keeping you from understanding the full extent of the game, he’s limiting your knowledge and thus your power over people. If you don’t understand how powerful the game is, you don’t know what you can do.”

“He’s trying to stop you from forming a faction,” Chanyeol mutters, almost to himself, “which means he doesn’t know what we’re doing.”

“But what’s his motivation for doing this? Jongin follows the rules. He’s a letter-of-the-law kind of guy. The Queen is supposed to be the second most powerful card, which you can’t be if he doesn’t tell you how the game works.  He's trying to stop you from forming a faction. That bastard.” 

“Is this really that big a problem? So he didn’t tell me anything. Isn’t that fine since I have you guys?”

“No. The problem here becomes that Jongin will be very aware of what he says to you, so if we give you more information than what he’s told you, and you somehow blurt it out, he’ll know you have an insider. But he won’t know who it is, and it’s a very dangerous thing for a king to not know who the insider is. You instantly become a threat.”

“So I won’t tell.”

The disbelieving look that comes from both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo is very disheartening. “Do you really think you’ll be able to stop information we’ve told you from spilling out in front of Jongin? Jongin’s smart. When I mean he knows exactly what he’s said to you, I’m talking verbatim. There is nothing that will get past him.” Kyungsoo’s words are measured and exact. Beneath the surface lurks implicit danger and fear. Jongin can end him if he chooses to do so.

“So you can't tell me anything else, then?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “That’s also a bad idea. If you want to form a faction, you need to know the full extent of what the court, the Queen, is capable of. There’s got to be someone else who can tell you what’s going on.”

“It can’t be someone. It’s got to be Minseok. Anyone else is too suspicious.” Kyungsoo’s gripping the island so hard that his knuckles are white. He seems stressed.

“Wait, why does it have to be Minseok?” 

“Minseok’s behavior is well known to Jongin. Like I said, Minseok’s got an odd sense of morals, so it’s well within the realm of possibility that he’ll help you, like when he stopped you from going into the pottery studio. No one aside from Minseok would help you. You’re too new; you have nothing to offer that will make people help you.”

“I have you guys.”

Chanyeol frowns. “You know we’re using you, right? We met yesterday. We don’t know each other well enough to be friends. You have value to us. Having you as the Queen is going to help us significantly.”

“How did you know I would have use?” There’s only a slight sting from Chanyeol’s words. Sehun’s not completely surprised. Why else would these two random guys help him get the second highest card? Friendship will happen later. Right now, it's a business arrangement. 

“You didn’t know how the game worked, so you’d have to rely on someone to learn it. It’s why we caught you when we did. You would have enough time to figure out the game, but not enough for someone else to pick you up.” Both of them are so blunt, which Sehun supposes is a good thing. If they were kind, he'd be suspicious. 

Sehun almost scoffs at himself. It's barely been two days and now he's of the opinion that he can't trust people who are kind? He's come to a terrible place.

“And why’d you pick me up?” Once it’s out of his mouth, Sehun realizes that this should have been the first question he asked. What do Kyungsoo and Chanyeol want from him?

Kyungsoo sighs heavily. It fills the room. “This game is so fucked, Sehun, and no one does anything about it. That’s probably the most fucked up thing about it.” Again, Sehun sees the tiredness that Kyungsoo possessed in the auditorium. It’s worse now. Submerged in some unending nightmare, Kyungsoo’s become jaded and nihilistic , and Chanyeol treats his abuse like it's nothing. The game is fucked, and if they want to end it, then Sehun does to. 

“So the problem with getting Minseok to tell me anything, much less anything about Casino night, is that he currently will only acknowledge me if I annoy him.”

“All the best relationships start that way.” Chanyeol’s remark makes Kyungsoo give a small smile, which is probably the point. Kyungsoo, overall, seems more affected by the game than Chanyeol is.

Sehun’s willing to continue the trend for his future friend’s sake. “Thank you, Chanyeol, but that cannot be true. There’s only so much I can annoy him though before it’s not cute anymore.”

“It’s interesting that you would think being annoying, is cute in the first place. But you’re right, there’s only so far that being annoying can take you. Do you have another strategy or would you like a suggestion?” Kyungsoo’s started taking down pots and pan. Sehun’s able to spy that Kyungsoo’s left the cookbook open to a spaghetti recipe. He holds back a hiss. The marble backsplash won’t be able to withstand the tomato sauce. He’s got to focus, though. Kyungsoo’s asked him a question.

Sehun shakes his head. “Nah, I think I have it. He seems really paranoid about the court not presenting a good image. If I can somehow get him to think I’ll fuck everything up for the court, he’ll help me.”

“Yeah, I saw him take over for you on your Econ assessment. Ask him for help on Econ. He knows for sure that you’re terrible at that.” 

Sehun wishes he could argue with that, but anything with statistics has always been a nightmare for him. “Yeah, that should work. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Why talk to him tomorrow when you can text him now? Here’s his number.” Chanyeol pulls up Minseok’s contact number.

“I can’t just text him out of the blue. How do I say I got his number?” Despite his words, Sehun pulls out his phone to take down Minseok’s number. A hot guy’s number is a hot guy’s number.

“Don’t say anything unless he asks. For right now just start out with asking him for help.”

Sending the first text is risky in any normal sense, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Sehun is in some special kind of Hell. He sends the text without any hesitation. 

**To: Kim Minseok**

Hey, this is Sehun. I wanted to know if you could help me with Econ? I’m pretty lost.

 

Since Chanyeol’s bread is in the oven, he and Sehun both just stare at the phone, waiting for Minseok to reply.  This is nerve-wracking. It’s just a text asking for help on homework. It’s completely innocent.

 “Do you find Minseok attractive?” Chanyeol asks. 

“Yeah,” Sehun replies easily. He’s hoping that he’ll be sleeping with the guy soon. There’s really no point in denying that he finds Minseok attractive.

“So this must be excruciating for you.”

“Chanyeol!”

“What? I’m not dissing you. I get it.”

“Kyungsoo, stop him,” Sehun whines.

“Chanyeol, stop teasing Sehun for his crush.”

Sehun’s phone vibrates before he can respond to Kyungsoo’s ludicrous claim. It’s lust, not a crush.

**From: Kim Minseok**

Get a tutor.

 

Sehun shouldn’t have expected anything different.

**To: Kim Minseok**

I’m trying.

 

**From: Kim Minseok**

Try somewhere else.

 

“Bring out the big guns,” Chanyeol whispers from behind Sehun’s shoulder. Sehun had no idea that he had moved.

**To: Kim Minseok**

But I don’t want people to think less of me as a court member.

 

It’s a bit too direct, but what’s too direct in the long term? Especially when it works.

**From: Kim Minseok**

Tomorrow at your place, 6pm

 

“Oh cool. It worked. He’s really easy, huh?” Sehun has a tutoring session just from one non-subtle text. 

“Super direct guy,” Kyungsoo agrees as he stirs the spot. “I bet he’ll let you blow him if you ask nicely.

“Kyungsoo!”

Chanyeol scoffs. “Yeah, Kyungsoo. Everyone knows that a blowjob is a second tutoring session kind of thing.”

 


	5. Chapter 4

Sehun hovers by the front door. Minseok’s coming over. He should be here in a few minutes. Sehun’s sweating bullets. He doesn’t know what they’re going to do. Well that’s a lie. He knows they’re going to do economics, but what does that even mean? Sehun’s studied with hot people before. But it’s studying in quotation marks. Hot people don’t study. They have sex. Sehun’s never gotten through a study session with a hot person without some light fondling at best. But he can’t do that with Minseok. If he can get through a study session without any sort of interference, he knows that Minseok will like him better. He just knows it.

Which is why he’s sweating. He almost wishes that they were having sex. No one talks during sex. No one has to think of how to trick people into telling them things or even make conversation with a guy who isn’t the most forthcoming. Sehun has to do both of those things. He’s not a good enough actor to do this. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were literally made for this. Sehun’s just some army brat who’s in over his head. What the fuck is he doing?

The doorbell rings. Sehun yelps before scrambling to open the door. Minseok won’t want to be kept waiting.

Minseok looks impeccable with wavy, black hair and his gold-rimmed glasses, the stark white of uniform highlighting the bronze of his skin so nicely. Sehun gulps. “Hi, Minseok. Please come in.”

Minseok looks at him oddly before rolling his eyes, walking past Sehun, quite noticeably going out of his way to not make contact with Sehun. Sehun closes the door behind Minseok and rests his head against the door. Terrible start, but he can make it better. He has to pull this off. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are depending on him.

When Sehun turns around, Minseok is staring at him, the same unreadable expression on his face. Sehun coughs and points, “Kitchen. That’s where’ we’ll be studying.” Minseok nods without saying a word and heads into the kitchen. Sehun wishes he could slap himself, but there’s too much risk that Minseok will see him do it. Sehun’s already had the worst 30 seconds of his life. He doesn’t need to prolong it.

Minseok has four different textbooks and a laptop laid out on Sehun’s kitchen table. It’s intimidating. Sehun slides into the seat next to Minseok and looks over the books. Three of them are college textbooks on econ. The last one is a physical copy of the school’s textbook that Sehun has as a pdf on his school laptop.

“Lot of books,” is the only thing Sehun can think of to say.

“You’re really stupid, so I need all the help I can get.”

“Good call, good call.” Sehun slumps down into his seat. It’s not going great.

Minseok taps on the school textbook. “Read chapter 1 and take notes on a piece of paper. You’ll retain it better.”

It does work better. Sehun finds after half an hour. It’s mostly understandable, but Sehun knows that’s mostly because Chapter 1 is all theory. Once he gets to the math it won’t be such easy going.

“You’re doing well. Move onto Chapter 2 when you’re done.” Sehun jolts at Minseok’s voice. It’s the first time Minseok’s spoken to him since the initial instructions, which means Sehun has learned absolutely nothing about him. He’s got to fix that.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“The blue of the Phillips Curve in Chapter 2 of the textbook. Keep studying Sehun. We need to make sure you’re up to Chapter 5 by the time we finish. Quarter Terms are in four weeks. The court needs to be in the top ten at the very least. Top five is ideal though. We won’t aim too high though since you’re not the brightest.”

Sehun just has to blow right past that. Can’t get discouraged. He has a lot of ground to cover. He’ll take notes on another chapter and try again. Chapter 2 goes a lot quicker than chapter 1. Sehun is also taking less rigorous notes, but he gets the gist.

“Finished Chapter 2. Favorite food?” Sehun’s not going to quit until he gets a proper answer.

“The hamburgers used in example 6 of the Chapter 3 review. I want you to make sure you know the answers to all the review questions. I’ll look over it when you’re done.” Minseok doesn’t look up from the laptop.

Fine. Sehun will do another chapter. Minseok will have to answer him legitimately eventually. After Chapter 3, “what’s your favorite book?” “Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell”. After Chapter 4,  “Do you have any siblings?” “What are siblings compared to economic reviews?”

Sehun’s hand is cramping and his brain is friend by the time he finishes taking notes for Chapter 5.  It was painful, yet he’s confident he knows the material mostly. But more importantly, Minseok can’t deflect anymore. Sehun looks up at the clock: 9:30. His mom gets home at 10, and he’s technically not allowed to have boys over when no one’s home. He has half an hour to get the information he needs.

“What’s Casino Night like? Nothing Jongin told me was helpful.” Sehun blurts out. Minseok actually jolts at the sudden question and looks at him bug-eyed before shutting his laptop. He sighs heavily, rubs his eyes, and stretches his back. Sehun watches those muscles stretch deliciously underneath his buttondown.

“Yeah, I guess I should tell you. It’s a lot more complicated than Jongin made it seem. You’re going to see that the card game is reflective in everything we do here, which is as it should be. But Casino Night is perhaps the most licentious night of the year, simply by virtue of being the first party of the year.  We go all out in planning. You missed most of that. The Queen is usually in charge of getting the band, by Joohyun already picked one out and paid the deposit. Sorry.” There is no need for Minseok to apologize because that sounds horrible. Joohyun is coming in clutch to get Sehun out of planning.

“But anyway, the more important thing is that Casino Night is separated into sections based on your card and year. The party is held in two locations that’s separated into freshman, sophomore and then junior, senior. For the junior, senior party, we’re more committed to the hierarchy. Ranks 3 and down are servants for the night while ranks 4-6 are subject to your typical party fare. Cheap beer, chips, dip and the odd vegetable plate. They’re also allowed to play Texas Hold’em and roulette. Ranks 7-8 get pizza and liquor and play poker and Keno. Ranks 9-10 get a sit-down meal, filet mignon this year, and table service. They play baccarat and craps. The court gets the best food and liquor money can buy. No expense is too much. We play blackjack and bridge—”

“Bridge? You can’t gamble with bridge.”

“You can, but we don’t gamble when we play bridge. All the money the house makes comes back to us, so gambling's pointless for us. Bridge is all about strategy. Jongin implemented it into Casino Night. He likes to measure our abilities. He’s obsessed with knowing everything.”

Sehun wrinkles his nose. He already knew Jongin was bad news, but to have a member of the court speak so badly about Jongin makes it seem worse. Kyungsoo’s an ace, so everyone treats him badly, but Minseok is the King’s right hand man. Who would know better than him? Even more importantly though is the fact that Minseok is telling him this. It seems counterintuitive. Minseok should be protecting Jongin.

 “Is it okay for you to be telling me this?” Sehun asks. He’s not satisfied with the wording, but he’s not sure he can phrase it any better. It’s not fully correct, but he doesn’t know why.

Minseok gives him a look that clearly means he thinks Sehun’s an idiot. “The court never likes each other. We work together because it looks better and there are more benefits. Jongin hates me and you. It’s why he’s trying to sabotage you. But he’s not thinking straight. If he sabotages you, he, by extension, is sabotaging the rest of the court.”

“So what do I do?”

Minseok shrugs. “Nothing. The rest of us are going to try and help you because it benefits us. Jongin won’t like it, but he’ll get over it. Right now, you’re new and unexpected. None of us like being caught unaware. But we’ll adapt. It just takes time.” 

Sehun nods along. It makes sense he supposes. The card decides your social life. It mostly likely creates resentment, but all you can do is deal with it.

“Yeah, okay—”

Sehun hears the unmistakable sound of a car engine idling. He looks at the clock: 10:02. Shit! He lost track of time. He starts grabbing the various textbooks and shoving them onto Minseok’s lap.

“You have to go. My mom’s home, and I’m not allowed to have boys over when no one else is here.” 

Minseok might have tried to say something, but Sehun’s making too much noise as he practically drags Minseok’s chair over to the back door. Minseok, to his credit, manages to get everything back in his bag.

“Just wait till my mom’s inside and then follow the rock path. It’s super easy. See you tomorrow,” Sehun manages to rush out before shutting the door on Minseok. He leans his head against the door. That was too close.

 

 

 

Chanyeol picks Sehun up from his house at 7pm sharp. Sehun, in his rented tux, feels like he’s waiting for his date to prom. The feeling intensifies when Chanyeol shows up in a sleek, black Range Rover, parks it, and then gets out to open the car door for Sehun.

“Thank you,” Sehun says confusedly as he slides into the seat. The car smells new. There’s not a speck of dirt anywhere. Sehun feels incredibly poor. Chanyeol’s tux is too fitted to his body for it to be rented. Sehun’s not rich enough for this.

Chanyeol waits to slide into his own seat before responding. “I’m easing you into it.”

“Easing me into it?”

Chanyeol starts the car. “You’re going to see exactly how cruel our classmates are tonight. You’re going to see how cruel you’re going to have to be tonight. Right now, while you’re working on Minseok, you’re going to have to blend in and not stand out. Once you have Minseok, and people begin to think that he was your sponsor, then you do what you want.”

Sehun nods. He finally read the email form the Card Committee. Read the rules, understood the subtext. This will be his first real foray into the belly of the beast. He’s been here two weeks, and has only seen instances of what Chanyeol’s talking about. He had run across Siwon a few times, whose bruises have faded to a deep yellow on his stitched up face, witnessed a 3’s head forced into a toilet still full of shit, another ace was “compelled” to give a 10 all the money in her wallet. Sehun had even seen Kyungsoo slammed into a locker and punched. It had left him with a nasty bruise and a split lip.

“How’s Kyungsoo?”

“He’s already at the event. Those who are serving tonight have to help set up as well. You have to remember that tonight you can’t show that you know him in any capacity.”

“I know, I know.”

Chanyeol grips the wheel tighter, a tight smile on his face. “That’s the thing. You don’t understand. Kyungsoo’s an ace. He’s the lowest of the low tonight. Cardless aren’t even invited here tonight. You’re going to get Kyungsoo get treated like shit tonight. I need you to be on guard. You don’t know how cruel kids can be, and you’re soft.”

“You’re more stressed than usual.” Sehun doesn’t bother trying to respond to anything Chanyeol’s said. He’s probably right even though the use of the word “soft” is extremely vague. But what does Sehun know?

“It’s a big night. There’s a lot riding on it, and I’m just worried.” 

Well, that’s even more vague, but Sehun gets it. He thinks. There’s really no use in thinking too much about it. Chanyeol will be there the entire time to stop him from being stupid. He apparently has Chaeyoung and Minseok  on his side to a certain degree apparently. The only bad spot is Jongin, who hates him. But Sehun can deal with that as well. It’s logical. It’s a public event, so the court has to present a united front. So it can’t be too bad.

 

 

 

It’s terrible. When Sehun’s finally over the opulence of the _ballroom_ they’ve rented out, over all the glass chandeliers, the Jazz band he knows won a Grammy last year, the black silk curtains so artfully draped, the dozens of regulation casino card tables, and just the sheer lavishness of his classmates formal wear, he has to acknowledge that Chaeyoung and Minseok have their feet propped up on two of the aces’ backs and a couple of 2s behind them holding champagne glasses.

It isn’t the worst thing he’s seen, but it is perhaps the most jarring. He’s seen bullying at every school he’s been too. This, though, is something different. It’s a blatant example of the card hierarchy. Sehun’s the only one effected. Even the servants are resigned to their slavish role. And Sehun’s going to have to do this too.

Chanyeol taps his lower back to get him moving forward into the miniature throne that is his seat. Sehun makes it up the last few steps onto the platform and makes it over to his seat, where another 2 steps out of the shadows and puts a filled champagne glass in Sehun’s hand.  Sehun takes a sip. It’s expensive. He crosses his legs.

“Oh no, that won’t do,” Chaeyoung says. She snaps her fingers. “I need Eunsoo over here right now. The Queen cannot be without an ottoman.”

Sehun opens his mouth to object, but he makes eye contact with Chanyeol who shakes his head minutely. Sehun closes his mouth. He bites the inside of his cheek when a girl in a glamorous, green floor-length gown climbs up the stairs, her diamond necklace and earrings winking in the light, only to drop to her knees and hands so Sehun can rest his feet on her. He carefully raises his feet and puts them on her back, making sure his feet extend past her back and the only point of contact is his tuxedo-covered legs. He supposes that the rental place cleaned it well enough. He hates how much more comfortable this position is.

Eunsoo has five different colors on her eyelids and a golden sheen on her cheekbones. She really dressed up for this and yet, she has to spend the night as Sehun's own personal footrest. Sehun has never felt so guilty in his life, but he can’t say anything. So he takes a sip of his champagne and leans back in his chair. A 2 holds out a tray filled with seafood appetizers. Sehun waves it away. He can’t stomach anything right now.

Now that he’s settled, he's able to take in his situation. The court is on a platform that’s four feet off of the ground. They are literally looking down on everyone. They have a table piled high with seafood (Sehun can see lobster), and a small waitstaff of 2s and 3s ready to get them any food or drink that they could want. A card table sits in the middle. No one’s playing currently, because they’re all sequestered at the end in mini thrones with aces as footrests. Chaeyoung looks stunning in a black cocktail dress, delicately holding her champagne flute, red hair piled high, as she looks out over the students like a queen looks over her kingdom. Chanyeol was still standing and talking to Minseok, who looks amazing in his generic black tux, hair slicked back with a jawline to die for.

Jongin isn't here, but he appears quickly when he comes stomping up the stairs with a scowl on his face. He grabs a flute of champagne and downs it in a single draught before quickly grabbing another. “Those stupid juniors. Acting like they’re all that. They might not be seniors, but the court, regardless which grade they are, has an image to uphold.” He flops into his chair and Sehun hates how graceful he looks.He's wearing a black suit with no tie, and hair artfully swept up. He looks like a mysterious benefactor in an erotic novel.

“I seem to be missing a foot stool.” There’s no obvious directive in Jongin’s words, yet all the same, at least half of their slaves jolt and begin filing down the stairs looking for Jongin’s footstool, which has to be an ace, which has to be Kyungsoo. 

Sehun can’t help but spare a glance at Chanyeol. Chanyeol is looking out over the crowd, a frown on his face. Eventually, quite loudly, he announces, “I’m going to go flirt with 7s. More in the mood for pizza and beer than champagne and unidentifiable crustaceans.”

“They’re lobsters, Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol gives Minseok a disbelieving look, asks “Are they, Min?” before skipping down the stairs to get away. Sehun has never envied anyone so badly in his life. 

The more time passes, the angrier Jongin becomes. He’s so close to snapping the stem of his champagne class. Finally, a 3 comes running back, pulling Kyungsoo behind him. Kyungsoo does a half-hearted jog to keep up. It’s only been a few days since he was punched, so the bruise on his right cheek is still a deep, ugly purple and the cut on his lip looks like it’s on the verge of splitting again. His eyes are downcast as a sign of respect, but even Sehun, with his limited knowledge, knows that Kyungsoo’s being defiant. Eunsoo, well aware that she would be a slave tonight, still chose to go full glam with her makeup, because this school is all about appearances. Everything has to look perfect, and Kyungsoo with his fist-sized bruise and bleeding lip decidedly does not.

Jongin’s lips thin in anger when he sees Kyungsoo, but he doesn’t do anything. He just waits. Without prompting, Kyungsoo slips around the 3 and drops to his hands and knees in front of Jongin. Jongin is still undeniably angry, but he looks slightly appeased when he places his feet right in the center of Kyungsoo’s back. Sehun is at least a little mollified that Jongin didn’t slam his feet down onto Kyungsoo’s back, which he was was positive Jongin was going to do.

It’s silent until Jongin snaps his finger and one of the 2s brings him a sushi roll. Sehun lets himself breathe. He feels Eunsoo shift beneath his feet. God, he hates this.

“Minseok, there are 2 weeks until the quarter terms. Is there anything I should specifically focus on when studying?” Sehun asks. It’s possibly the worst question Sehun could have asked. He’s at a really fancy event with a really hot guy who looks like sex on a stick in his tux, and all he can talk about is economics. But Sehun has really great reasons for that. In the first place, getting information about Minseok is like trying to pull teeth, and secondly, his feet are resting on the back of a live human being. This entire situation is fucked, and Sehun’s been instructed to act like nothing’s wrong.

The look on Minseok’s face shows he also thinks it’s a stupid question, but he responds anyway. “You’re really dumb, so you need to look over everything.”

Sehun slumps back into his chair. “Great, cool. Thank you so much.” Sehun’s not in the mood to try again. He’ll just sit here and try not to think about the human being below his feet. It’s not easy.

“Sehun,” Chaeyoung calls out. She has a indulgent smile on her face, and she’s sitting in such a way that her stilletos are digging into her ace’s ribs. His face shows that he’s in pain, and Chaeyoung looks like she does not care. Great.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He’s just got to pretend that he does not care about basic human decency.

“I find it odd that you’ve been here for over an hour now, and you haven’t eaten anything yet. Hasn’t someone offered you anything?”

And just like that, Sehun has a bunch of 2s and 3s shoving platters of seafood under his nose. He tries to curl into himself , but when he draws his feet back, he feels Eunsoo flinch under him. He pushes his feet back forward to rectify the damage, which causes her to flinch again. Sehun’s done moving. His voice is high-pitched, “I’m actually pretty allergic to seafood, so I’m good. I need all of you to back away.”

Just as quickly as they approached him, they back off. For forced labor, they’re awfully good at their jobs. He breathes out and relaxes into his chair.

“So you’re allergic to seafood. That’s good to know.” Jongin comments lazily. He has a wicked smile to let Sehun know he means exactly what Sehun’s thinking.

“You know, I think it’s time we play Bridge. Sehun doesn’t know how, and the sooner he learns, the better. The BVG meeting happens in 3 months. They’ll be expecting all of us to know how,” Minseok interjects. It’s probably not seemly for court members to make death threat towards other members in public.

Jongin finishes another flute of champagne. He nods. “That’s a great idea. Aces, move our chairs around the table and then go stand against the wall. 2s, 3s, get everyone a tumblr of whisky, neat. Moonbyul, go get a deck. ”

Sehun lifts his feet and stands up as Eunsoo scrambles to get up and follow Jongin’s orders. All of the slaves move with efficiency to carry out Jongin’s orders. Sehun uncertainly moves over to where Eunsoo moved his chair. When he sits down, Chaeyoung immediately moves to sit opposite of him. She smiles.

“We’re going to be partners.”

Sehun has no idea what that means, but he smiles back. Chaeyoung probably knows better than to leave him with Jongin.

When everything’s done, Sehun has a tumblr of whiskey to his left along with Jongin. Minseok is on his right with a wall of aces behind him. A deck of cards sits in front of Jongin. He shuffles the cards before dealing them out. While he deals, he explains how to play.

Sehun looks at his cards and instantly feels lost. Jongin just explained this, but the entire bidding system seems terrible. He’s not sure that he has a preferred suit. Hopefully Chaeyoung has a stronger idea of what she needs. Sehun needs to take the opening bid. 

Somehow, Sehun manages to get through most of the game and not fail. He’s even won some tricks. It’s the 12thgo around now, and both teams are tied. There are only two rounds left. The trump is the spade as bid upon by Minseok.

Jongin lays down a 7 of hearts.

Sehun lays down a Jack of spades.

Minseok hesitates over his hand before playing a 9 of spades.

Chaeyoung lays down a 2 of hearts.

The trick goes to Sehun. Chaeyoung and Sehun lead. It’s Jongin’s turn to lay another card down, but he lays his cards face down and pushes back his chair.

“I’m bored.” The phrase carries weight. The court stands (Sehun barely standing before Eunsoo yanks his chair out from under him), immediately abandoning their cards, and the aces moves all of their chairs back to their original positions before getting back on their hands and knees.

Sehun ends up sitting in his chair for the next 3 hours, drinking champagne and nibbling on some pizza that a 3 got him. Jongin doesn’t bother talking to any of them for the rest of the evening nor explaining why he cut the game short. 

Finally, Chanyeol comes and explains he’s got to go home, which means Sehun gets to go home. Sehun can’t get up fast enough. Chanyeol’s halfway down the stairs before he stops and turns around. “I forgot. We have to make sure someone stays behind to supervise the lower ranks during clean-up. I know it’s my turn this time, but my mom’s pretty—”

“I’ll do it,” Jongin interjects. He’s been staring out over the party, moodily, for the last three hours.

Chanyeol doesn’t look surprised by the interruption. “Thanks, Jongin. I’ll cover your next shift. Let’s go, Sehun.” Sehun waves his goodbye, pointedly making eye contact with Minseok, who predictably makes nothing of it.

In the car, Sehun feels himself breathe easy for the first time all night. He lets his head fall against the head rest and closes his eyes.

“You did well, Sehun.”

Sehun smiles weakly. It certainly doesn’t feel that way. He feels guilty. He treated people as less than human tonight. Chanyeol’s wrong, but there’s no use arguing. “What’d you do all night?”

“I ate pizza and played roulette then I went to go visit my sponsor. Played baccarat. The lower ranks have more fun at these events. Since the court plan the parties, they’re never really that fun for us.”

Sehun hums, but can’t think of anything to respond with, so he doesn’t. He’s been on edge all evening. He deserves to bask in the silence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried so hard to think of a way to write the full game for Bridge, but it would have been like 2,000 words of gibberish.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol show up bright and early on Sunday morning with a chai tea latte for Sehun, which is the only reason Sehun lets them in. His parents are in the kitchen and Sehun doesn’t want to talk about school business in front of them, so he tries to push Chanyeol and Kyungsoo up to room. His dad stops them though until he sees Kyungsoo’s swollen eye and lets them go. As they head up, Sehun hears his dad give some half-assed excuse on his behalf. His dad isn’t under any illusions as to why Kyungsoo’s face is like that.

It takes little time for Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to settle into his room with Chanyeol on his bed and Kyungsoo in his rolling chair. He’s spinning in circles aimlessly, looking over Sehun’s room with a judging look. Sehun doesn’t know what he’s judging. Everything aside from his bedsheets are in boxes.

“You don’t like doing things in a timely manner, do you?” Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose at an open box with clothes hanging over the side. Sehun doesn’t see what the big deal is. They wear uniforms five days out of the week.

“The floor’s clean,” Sehun offers. He’s really only concerned that things are clean in a hygiene sense. Everything in boxes doesn’t bother him. He shrugs. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

Kyungsoo looks around the room like he’s contemplating dragging Sehun for his personal choices before he clicks his tongue and swivels to face Sehun. “I think you can make a move on Minseok right now. 

“Why?” Sehun asks. Minseok told him what Casino Night was about, but, to use Kyungsoo’s words, Minseok has an “odd sense of morals”. Minseok has shown him no special consideration otherwise.

“The aces stood behind Minseok while you played bridge. Minseok played a nine when he had an ace. He had an ace of spades and he didn’t play it. He’s not a careless person. He knew we were behind him.  He knew we would see the ace. It’s practically a declaration on his part. It’s going to be all over school tomorrow. And following that rumor will be the revelation that Minseok got you the Queen card.” Kyungsoo settles back into his chair with a satisfied smirk. “He’s making this much easier for us than we thought he would. You and I are out the picture, Channie.”

”I don’t think we’ll ever be out of the picture, Kyung.” Chanyeol says as he rifles through a box next to Sehun’s bed. Sehun had been using that box as a nightstand, but Chanyeol’s moved everything off the top of it and ripped the tape off so he can go through it.

Sehun’s going to ignore that Chanyeol’s invading his privacy. “Minseok said Jongin implemented bridge into Casino Night, which means it’s relatively new and only for the court. Maybe the lower cards don’t know how bridge works. Maybe they didn’t get the significance of not playing the ace.”

“Jongin implemented bridge when Minseok became Jack last year, but it wouldn’t have mattered if Jongin implemented the game 2 hours before Casino Night. What the King decrees, we do. Every single student knows how to play bridge. Everyone knows exactly what Minseok did.” Chanyeol pulls out Sehun’s pocketknife and pockets it. Sehun’s not going to stop him though he acknowledges that he probably should.

“So I make my move?”

“Yeah, now that people know that Minseok got you the card, they’ll be willing to join your faction. It’s time to build that up. It’s the next step in the big scheme.” Kyungsoo nods quickly as he talks. He scratches at the hole in the armrest.

“Are you okay?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I forgot that Jongin implemented bridge at the beginning of junior year. First King in the history to do so.”

Sehun walks over to stop Chanyeol from pocketing a postcard from a friend. Why would he want that? Chanyeol tries to hold it out of his reach, and while he straddles Chanyeol to get his card back, he asks “Is that a problem?”

“It bothers me for a couple of reasons, but the big thing is it means he’s unpredictable, which is something that’s happened in recent years, probably because he’s the top dog now. And he doesn’t like you or Minseok. There’s really no telling what he’ll do. So be careful.”

Sehun finally snatches his postcard away from Chanyeol and turns around. “Be careful? That’s all you’ve got to say?” Kyungsoo looks at him with a furrowed brow and worries his bottom lip with his teeth.

“I’ll figure something out.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sehun gets to the lounge right after class on Monday because he has a guess that Minseok gets his studying done early. He seems pretty predictable in that way, and he’s right. Minseok’s scowling at his statistics text book, his hair looking wild from how many times he’s run his hands through his hair. He doesn’t even look up when Sehun comes in.

Sehun’s going to be bold, and he means bold. He doesn’t bother trying to look seductive as he walks over to Minseok. It’s a useless endeavor since Minseok’s deaf to the world. No, it’s all about how Sehun slides onto Minseok’s desk. It’s got to be smooth, one complete motion that ends with Sehun well within Minseok’s personal space.  But the desk is too wide. Sehun would have to physically pull himself across its distance to get even remotely close enough to Minseok, which is decidedly not sexy. So he settles by walking around the desk and leaning against it so that he’s facing Minseok, his thigh pressed heavily against Minseok’s upper arm.

There’s no extreme reaction from Minseok. He looks up almost lazily at Sehun as he leans back in his seat. His eyes are settled and blank. If Sehun wants anything more from this interaction, he’ll have to be the one to instigate it.

“I think that I should thank you.”

“For what?” Minseok’s face is still blank.

“For not playing the ace in the game of bridge,” Sehun’s really not sure how much subtext he’s actually conveying here, but surely Minseok knows the consequences of what he’s done.

“And who told you I had an ace?” There’s a break now. Eyebrows slight raised and the left corner of Minseok’s mouth is slightly upturned. He’s amused.

Obviously, Sehun knows that he can’t say Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, that creates too many problems that he can’t even begin to imagine. So he tries to play coy. “Who knows?” The enigmatic smile he tries for must fail because Minseok just lets out a breath of laughter.

“Kyungsoo does what he wants. He always has, and I respect that. But you’ve got to play it smarter. If I were Jongin, I would have destroyed you by now.”

“Why?” Sure, Sehun’s picked up on the animosity, but that seems to be largely from Kyungsoo’s lack of respect for the hierarchy and Jongin’s commitment to the hierarchy, but surely there are multiple lower ranks who don’t really respect the hierarchy. Maybe on Kyungsoo’s part, he’s a bit too flagrant in his dismissal of it.

A true enigmatic smile emerges on Minseok’s lips. “Most of us have been with each other since kindergarten, that’s a lot of time to be with people.”

Sehun’s going to let it drop since Minseok has no intention of giving him an answer. He’ll take the advice though. He’s got to be smarter about what he says. That’s clear. Jongin’s too smart, and Sehun will just have to rise to that level.

“But since you’re not Jongin, I don’t have to be as careful, do I?” Sehun knows he can do a flirty smile, knows the soft curve and the small pucker required. Minseok’s eyes drop to Sehun’s lips before flitting back up to Sehun’s eyes. A similar flirty smile grows on his face. He lifts his arm and plants it on Sehun’s thigh, hand placed precariously close to his crotch. He leans over, “If you want something from me, all you have to do is ask, Sehun.” He flicks the zipper on Sehun’s pants. What Sehun actually feels physically is minimal, but his imagination makes up for the rest.

It’s like a switch has been flipped. The Minseok that Sehun had experienced up until now, and this Minseok before him are completely different. Sehun takes in a shaky breath as Minseok applies more pressure, actively dragging his finger up and down. Minseok tilts his head and lets his smile curl more, “Hmm?”

Sehun’s tongue feels swollen in his mouth. He swallows thickly, unbidden his eyes drop down to the long, clean line of Minseok’s neck. “I, uh, uh, I want to—”

The door clicks open and Sehun whirls around and drops to the floor so he can hide his growing arousal. He barely has time to look over at Minseok’s statistics book before Jongin, Chaeyoung, Chanyeol and a couple of, what Sehun guesses, are lower ranks, probably 2s and 3s, come in. He’s learned to recognize all the aces in his grade on sight.

Jongin doesn’t even step in the room before his eyes are on Minseok and Sehun. His voice is hard when he speaks. “What are you doing?”

The switch has been flipped again. Minseok is again expressionless, his voice quite obviously bored. “He’s stupid, Jongin. It’s required to hold his hand through statistics or would you rather I let him fail the subject?” Sehun chances a glance up at Minseok. There’s nothing in his face that insinuates his behavior from earlier. Sehun looks down to hide his displeasure. Minseok was just teasing him, and Sehun was all to ready to blow him. How pathetic.

Jongin wrinkles his nose in distaste, but doesn’t say anything else, just walks into the room and points to a stack of papers on his desk. “I need you to write thank you notes to all of the vendors from Casino Night. There’s a list of them on the desk. I want each vendor to have a full-page, handwritten thank you note. I don’t care when you come into do them, but they must be done before tomorrow morning. Is that clear?”

The smaller of the two, a small waspish girl, who had smiled at Sehun apologetically that first day of school when he had nicked his finger on one of the razor blades in his desk, asks, “Can we bring them home and do them there?”

The smile that Jongin flashes them is full of contemptuous pleasure, “No. Can’t have you leaving them at home accidentally. You can do it here.”

Sehun watches both of them slump in on themselves as they accept their fate of a long night, but they only let themselves feel their fate for a second before they move across to Jongin’s desk. They know better than to ask to sit because they immediately reach for the pens on the desk and start writing.

“Minseok,” Jongin calls out. “We have a meeting with administration. We need to go over the earnings from Casino Night. 

Minseok heaves a sigh and gets up. Sehun thinks he sees him smile when he looks down at Sehun’s crotch, but it’s so quick, he’s not sure. His erection’s gone down enough that he can probably walk around without anyone looking at him oddly, but the moment he starts to stand up and follow Minseok, Jongin calls out, “It’s fine, Sehun, since you weren’t a part of the party planning, you don’t need to come to this meeting. Instead, you can watch the 2s write the letters and send them out when they’re done. There are stamps in the cabinet behind my desk. After they’re stamped, just place them in the wire bin outside of the administration office. And like I told the 2s, they need to be done before the morning.”

Jongin gives him a simpering smile.

Sehun’s not stupid despite the many claims that both Minseok and Jongin have made. He knows he’s being purposely undermined by not being allowed to go to this meeting, knows that’s he’s being forced to stay here until whenever the 2s are done with the letters, which will be long after school’s let out. There’s a part of him that desperately wishes to look to Chanyeol for some kind of leadership, but Jongin’s pinned him down with his stare. He’ll give himself away if he looks at Chanyeol, so he half bows and utters a low, “Of course.”

Jongin smiles brightly at him, “Fantastic. I knew I could count on you. 2s, the Queen is in charge. Make sure to listen to him.”

“Of course, Jongin,” they reply in unison. This place really is a cult.

Jongin gives Sehun one last victorious smirk before leaving the room, the rest of the court minus Sehun following him. There’s silence in the first few seconds after the door is closed and Sehun’s left alone with the 2s. They continue to write. Sehun just lets himself watch them. It’s what he’s supposed to do apparently.

The 2s don’t even look at him. They’re just as aware as he is, how little power he possesses. He’s the Queen, sure, but he’s now painfully aware how performative the role actually is, or rather, how performative Jongin is making the role. And he finds that he resents it. He truly resents what Jongin’s doing to him. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo are right. He needs a faction if he’s going to have any power.

“Fuck,” whispers one the 2s. He’s the taller of the two. He crumples up his piece of paper and throws it in the trash. Sehun watches him start writing again. They’re writing quickly, no doubt trying to get out of here as early as possible. Sehun’s seen the vendor’s list. It’s long. They’ll be lucky to get out of here before midnight, even with both of them working on it. Jongin’s truly is a sadistic bastard, and his obvious pleasure at their misery makes it known to all of them.

And that’s the key, isn’t it?

Sehun works a small smile onto his face. He makes his voice almost wispy in its tone when he speaks. “Hey, you guys can stop. I’ll do this.”

Both of the 2s jolt upright at Sehun’s words. They’re not so much obeying his request as just being confused by its offer.

“What?” The tall one asks.

Sehun smiles brighter. “I’ll do this. You guys can go home.”

“But Jongin told us to stay until they’re done,” the waspish one says uncertainly. Still, her eyes flicker over to the door longingly. Sehun won’t have to work hard to get what he wants.

“And Jongin put me in charge,” Sehun keeps his voice soft. “What are your names?”

“Jungwoo,” says the tall one.

“Moonbyul,” says the waspish one.

“Jungwoo, Moonbyul, I will finish the letters by myself, and you can go home. It’s unfair of Jongin to give you this work, and any time he wants you to do something, if you come to me, I will get you out of it.”

Sehun sees understanding makes it’s way into their facial expressions, which is good. They know what Sehun’s offering. The only question now is if they’ll accept it. They share a look with each other for an extended time. The silent conversation works its way quickly and Jungwoo turns to him soon enough, a concentrated expression on his face. “In return for this protection, you will ask us to do your own bidding?”

Jungwoo’s asking something else. He wants something else and Sehun’s not quite sure what it is, but he thinks about what he would be asking if he were in their situation. Jongin rules through fear, so they must be afraid about the consequences Jongin would inflict on them if they defected. He looks Jungwoo straight in the eye, “I would never ask either of you to do something that would bring Jongin’s wrath upon you. I’m asking for no public declarations. I just need to know that you’ll do what I ask.”

Jungwoo shares one more look with Moonbyul before they both nod. “Alright.”

Sehun’s smile easily turns genuine. “Thank you, I will not betray your allegiance. You may leave now.” They both smile briefly at him before they make their escape.

Sehun makes his way over to Jongin’s desk where there are many, many letters waiting to be written. He puts his hands on the desk and lets his head drop. He laughs to himself. The Queen now has a faction of 2.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been gone and I know some of you were worried. Life just kind of hit me.

Kyungsoo’s left hand is wrapped up when he and Chanyeol show up at the Brownstone Café on Thursday night, and it’s very obvious in the way Kyungsoo cradles it against his side that it hurts. Chanyeol shadows Kyungsoo when he goes up to counter to order and doesn’t let him pick up his coffee when it’s ready. It must be a new injury if Kyungsoo’s still allowing Chanyeol to breathe down his neck like that. The injury also explains why Chanyeol looked ready to snap at Chaeyoung when she asked him a question today.

“What happened?” Sehun asks when Kyungsoo slips into the booth. Chanyeol tries to hold onto Kyungsoo’s elbow while he slips in, but Kyungsoo slaps his hand away. 

“Stop that. I’m fine. It’s nothing. Some idiot slammed my hand on a burner today in home ec. It’s not a big deal. I’m an Ace, man. It happens. So tell us what happened. I haven’t seen you in a few days. I missed your face.” 

“We always talk about with me. Why don’t you tell me about you?” There’s absolutely no reason why Sehun couldn’t have asked this after he told them what happened, but he wants to milk this. He was smart. He got 2 faction members on his own. He knows it’s not a lot, but for someone who’s been here less than a month, and is actively allowing himself to be a chess piece, he’s doing good.

“Well, my hand’s got second degree burns and one of my informants told me you didn’t leave the school on Monday till 4 in the morning, which would actually make it Tuesday, my bad. We’ve got time to learn about me later. Right now, we’ve got to focus on you, and your nonexistent faction.”

“Can’t we slow down a bit? We’ve got a whole year.”

“We have less than a year, actually. Chanyeol and I have been planning this since freshman year, and we’re only now making progress. Don’t be mistaken. A year isn’t a long amount of time, and if you’re trying to make a change, you’ll find that it’s too short. We’re trying to perform a miracle here, Sehun, and miracles take time. Now please tell me what’s happened.” Kyungsoo’s eyes are steady while he speaks, but his voice takes on a hard edge. 

“Uh, I got 2 faction members,” Sehun starts before going on to explain how everything went down with Jungwoo and Moonbyul. Kyungsoo listens with his head lowered, nodding slightly every now and then. Chanyeol looks charmed while he speaks. Both of their reactions together let Sehun know that he’s done the right thing. _Correct thing_ , a voice that sounds eerily like his mother says in his head.

Despite his own convictions based on Kyungsoo and Chanyeol’s reactions, Sehun can’t help but ask, “Is that good?”

“Of course, gaining followers, whatever the means, is always good,” Kyungsoo replies easily, but he’s still holding his mouth high. He’s unsatisfied. Sehun can tell. His dad does the same thing.

“But?” There’s no point in keeping anything from Sehun. He’s already so far behind that any amount of information he gains will help. And there can’t be anything to stop Kyungsoo and Chanyeol from telling him things now. The whole school thinks that he serves Minseok. 

“I’m not sure there’s a but. I’m unsure of how things are. Give me a minute. Tell me how things are with Minseok.” 

There’s absolutely not concise, coherent way to describe how things with Minseok are because Sehun has absolutely no idea what goes on in Minseok’s head. Can he really tell the two people in front of him that Minseok essentially gave him a handjob?

“Minseok touched you, right? That’s why you couldn’t stand.” Chanyeol says with absolutely no hesitation.

“Yeah,” Sehun exhales. There are no secrets between them it seems even if he wanted there to be.

“That’s significant. Minseok’s going against tradition. Something about you must interest him.” Kyungsoo nods along as he speaks. He reaches for his coffee with his left hand and scowls when he remembers that it’s wrapped.

Sehun is undeniably pleased with Kyungsoo’s words. Interesting is exciting. Sehun can work with interesting, and apparently so can Minseok.  As long as it’s not one-sided, Sehun can work with that.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s safe to go forward with your goal of choking on his cock if you’re cool with that, of course. If not, you can play hard to get which will also work.” Kyungsoo fiddles with the loose end of his wrapping.

 _Play it cool,_ Sehun thinks to himself. “I’m fine with it.” He’s a little hot under the collar, but that’s how attraction works. He’ll get Minseok to fuck him.

“I’d say that your more than fine with it,” Chanyeol comments easily. “Push it. Minseok’s not fragile in any sense of the word. He’ll push back if he doesn’t like it. By the way, I’ve got tickets to the movies on Saturday. The three of us are going.”

It’s not just at school that Sehun’s being tugged around then, but this is easier. He likes movies and he hates making plans. He doesn’t have to even try for this friendship.

Kyungsoo waves a hand angrily. “Save it for later. The most important thing is Sehun’s lack of a faction. We’ve got the school thinking that Minseok is Sehun’s benefactor, and that will get him more faction members, sure, but it’s too conditional. They’re only loyal insofar as Sehun’s attached to Minseok. We can’t rely on that.”

“Can’t we, though?” Sehun asks. “If I just act like everything I do is Minseok’s wish then I can get them to do anything, right?”

Kyungsoo rubs at his face with his good friend. He seems agitated. “No, no no. That’s not good enough.  If Minseok were to suddenly drop you one day then his followers would drop you too. I’m not saying he would, but the point stands. You need followers who are loyal to you and only you.” 

Sehun nods, moreso to try and calm Kyungsoo. Every aspect of Kyungsoo’s being is fidgeting. Something’s bothering him. “What do I do then? The normal way to gain followers is to have something to offer, and I don’t really have anything to offer except Minseok.”

Chanyeol reaches over to stop Kyungsoo from unraveling his bandage. The loose end is in tatters from how much Kyungsoo’s been picking at it. “You do, though. You got two faction members on your own. Two of Jongin’s faction members to be precise. That’s really impressive.”

“I guess,” Now that he’s being praised freely, he’s not so sure anymore of his own success. “They’re not publicly mine though.”

Chanyeol nods eagerly. “That’s the best part about it. You’re gaining power that Jongin doesn’t know about, and you’re doing it in the best way possible.” Chanyeol stifles a giggle as he talks. “Jongin rules through fear and submission. You’re playing yourself lower. You’re being nice. This entire game is meant to be ruthless and you’re being nice!” Chanyeol’s worked himself up into some kind of giddy euphoria.

Sehun wrinkles his nose. He’s missing something. As usual.

“You’re playing the game the one way no one else in this school would play it. You’re too unpredictable. The rest of us have grown up knowing that we’re going to play the game, and so we watched the older kids play it and took on their strategies. We’re too rutted in the tradition of the thing, which is why you’re going to win.”

 

 

  

 

Sehun gives up on doing his math homework after 2 problems. He’ll get back to it later, but right now he wants to veg out. But even that’s looking like a bust. His mind won’t let him rest. He’s thinking about how to gain faction members. He’s been thinking about it constantly for the last few days. It’s like a video game in some ways. This is a plotline in _Assassin’s Creed_ except he can’t burn infested blankets or punch redcoats to get followers. He’s got to be nice. There’s a poetic justice in it that he already finds himself warming to. Jongin is mean and he is not. But how is to show everyone that he’s nicer? He got lucky with Jungwoo and Moonbyul. They were literally right there being tormented by Jongin.

Sehun pushes himself upright. That’s it. Or, well, that’s what he thinks is it. He’s just got to push Jongin to be meaner to his own underlings. Sehun will be a saint in comparison. It should be easy too. Jongin hates him. Hates his guts for some unknown reason, and Sehun’s going to exploit that fact for all it’s worth.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo’s at his locker, idly extracting his textbooks with his one good hand from beneath the dirt that fills his locker. Sehun’s got longer fingers than most and is able to delicately remove Kyungsoo’s notebook from the mound. Kyungsoo gives a brusque nods and tries to wipe away the dirt without ripping the pages.

“I’ve got a tentative plan that I need some help setting into motion, and I’d like your expertise on the matter.”

Kyungsoo tries to shake the dirt off of his wrappings. “Shoot.”

“Jongin hates me, right?”

“Yup.”

“Exactly. I want to push him to the extreme. The crueler he is to his own followers, the easier it will be for me to swoop in.”

Kyungsoo nods decisively and smiles at Sehun. “Yeah, that’s good. That’s definitely your best bet. Well done, Sehun. What do you need me for?” 

“You know Jongin pretty well. What’s the best way for me to make him angry.”

“You’re already doing it by talking to me.” Kyungsoo mutters absentmindedly as he paws more dirt out of his locker.

“What?”

Kyungsoo looks at him. “Jongin’s a stickler for tradition. The court only talks with the court, but if he sees you talking to me or any of the lower cards, it’s going to make him angry. He’ll lash out on his lackeys and then you can swoop in.”

Sehun nods excitedly as the plan begin to become fully formed in his mind. He’s already fraternizing with Kyungsoo. That’s half the plan already. He’s doing great right now. He just needs to talk to more lower ranks. It’s this though that brings forth another facet of the plan.

“Would Jongin punish another court member's faction?”

Kyungsoo’s face twists at the question. Sehun preens inwardly. This is the first time he’s thrown Kyungsoo for a loop.

“No, he wouldn’t, but that’s just because his is the strongest faction. If he thought he were losing power, he would punish other factions.”

Sehun nods. He was sort of right in his thinking then. If Sehun were to fraternize with any other faction members, Jongin would only punish his own no matter how angry. No matter how afraid they are of Jongin, surely there's a breaking point. Sehun's just got to push them off the precipice and then come in as their savior.

“Is there a way to tell faction members apart?”

Kyungsoo closes his locker, finally declaring it a lost cause. He looks at Sehun with renewed interest like he’s seeing something he didn’t before.

“No. It’s sort of ambiguous, but we don’t change factions a lot. Most of us know who belongs to who. You can guess though. We all pick our faction leader based on their leading characteristic. Jongin’s power. Minseok’s the law. Chanyeol’s adaptability. Chaeyoung is manipulation and then whatever your leading characteristic is. Then after that is the upper cards, but they all answer to the court as well.”

“Well, what’s my leading characteristic?” Sehun feels stupid for asking. He’s 17 for fucks sake. He should know his dominant personality trait, but hearing Kyungsoo say the others make him confused. How is the law a personality trait?

Kyungsoo shrugs, but he’s got a sly smile on his face that belies the movement. He knows exactly what Sehun’s leading personality trait is. “I don’t know, Sehun. You tell me.”

The entire point of asking the question was so that Sehun didn’t have to try and guess at his own leading personality trait. He doesn’t know, so it’s better to not answer the question. 

“Who’s your faction leader?” As much as Kyungsoo defies the game, he still plays the game. He has to be part of a faction.

Kyungsoo looks at him like he’s stupid. “Jongin.”

 

  

 

Nice. Sehun wants to be the nice one, but that’s not really a defining characteristic. That’s what you say about someone when you don’t know a lot about them. At best you’re saying they’re not an asshole. Is helpful more specific? Yeah, he thinks so. Nice people don’t have to be helpful. So yeah, Sehun’s going to be the helpful one except when it comes to Jongin. He’s going to follow Chaeyoung and manipulate Jongin.

It’s surprisingly easy to figure out who Minseok’s faction is despite his initial lack of understanding. Minseok’s followers follow the rules to the letter and to the spirit. They're absolute sticklers and Sehun would hate to try and pull off a heist with any of them.

His understanding of Minseok’s followers come to him in the form of Yuta.

Yuta is a 6, and someone Sehun runs into by pure chance when he’s going to the bathroom. Some low card (Sehun thinks he sees a 3 in their blazer pocket) is getting a swirlie. It’s completely unimaginative, but Sehun supposes that if it works then you shouldn’t change it. He’s certainly not going to try and stop them. So he feels sorry for the 3 kid, but he’s not going to stop it. Or he wasn't going to interfere until he remembered his own plan. Man, he wishes had a different plan. This is too proactive.

It’s with the greatest reluctance that Sehun says, “Stop that.” It’s with even greater reluctance that he says it louder a second time so that they can actually hear him. The leader of the swirlie a.k.a the one pushing the kid’s head into the toilet turns around menacingly and tries to loom over Sehun. This is a bad strategy because while this kid is beefy and burly and tall by Korean standards, Sehun is taller. Clearly this kid is used to looming over kids to scare them away.

Suprisingly this is the first time Sehun truly understands the power he wields because the burly kid tries to loom and scare Sehun before quickly stepping back and bowing a fully 90 degrees. It takes Sehun less than a second to understand that the kid’s seen his card.

“Let him go.” Sehun says it flatly to try and hide how jarred he is by this experience. This is the first time he’s interceded in the bullying. He's a little scared.

The kid looks at his two lackeys, which Sehun dimly notes as a 6 and a 7. Sehun watches as the leader dismisses them with a twitch of his head. They run off accordingly. The leader attempts to leave, but Sehun stops him.

Sehun gestures to the kid cowering over the toilet. “Why him?”

“Because he’s a 3,” the leader answers stupidly.

 _Jongin’s_ , Sehun thinks. It’s a call to tradition, but also a call to power. All of the bullies must be Jongin’s kids, and when Sehun thinks of how many bullies, and he means bullies in the sense of physical harm, there are, he starts to understand the extent of Jongin’s power. What a fruitful week this has been for Sehun.

“Get out,” Sehun says. The leader practically runs out. _A complete meathead._

Sehun watches him leave, watches the bathroom door open and close continuously until its momentum is diminished. When he turns back to the swirlie kid, he already sees another student leaning over him to check on him.

“Is he alright?”

“Yes,” the student replies quickly. He’s trying to wipe the water away with toilet paper, which does little but leave wet paper on the kid’s face. “I can’t believe Shiwon would do this. He knows that it’s off-limits.” Minseok's kid.

Surprisingly, Sehun knows what this kid is referencing. He finally got around to reading the rules of the game. In theory, the game is supspended when they’re in class. This means that the caste system is null and void. This rule isn’t as hard and fast as it seemed as there's many loopholes to the rule itself and even more just blatant disregard for it. 

During Sehun’s train of thought, the swirlie kid has made his way over to the sink to try and wash himself. Sehun leans against the sink and watches him.

“Does that happen a lot?” Sehun tries to phrase his question and intonation so that it comes off as mere curiosity. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Minseok’s kid stiffen. There’s nothing in the rules about poaching other faction members, but Sehun’s sure that it’s frowned upon.

“Every now and then,” the kid answers back defensively.

“If it ever happens again, tell me and I’ll punish the ones who did it.” Sehun’s finally getting used to using subtext.

The kid freezes. “Do you promise?”

Sehun grins internally at the question. This guy’s much more agreeable to the idea of being Sehun’s faction member than Jungwoo or Moonbyul was.

“Of course. I’ll be discreet about it too. No one will know it was either you or me who was involved. I imagine guys like that bully a lot of people.” Is Sehun relying too much on subtext for this conversation? It’s not like he can ask otherwise he’ll blow this cool, controlled image he’s currently fostering. He’s the cool, helpful guy.

The kid just nods before scurrying out of the bathroom. Sehun can’t really blame him; he just hopes that they were on the same page with the subtext.  

Minseok’s kid is still watching him, eyes rightfully narrowed with suspicion. Sehun’s doing something that’s going against the spirit of the law.

“Do you know who I am?” Sehun asks. The question is innocent. It really is. But Sehun has a plan and he wants to implement it. The earlier he starts the angrier he can make Jongin.

“Yes.” Minseok’s kid replies shortly.

“I don’t know who you are.”

“Yuta.”

“Yuta,” Sehun repeats. “Let's be friends." 


End file.
